Shinobi's Strength
by adela-estrella
Summary: When Hiei and Kurama are sent on a mission to find an assassin for hire, they come back with someone entirely unexpected. Will they give their lives to unravel this person's past, even if it means their death? No Yoai, OC. Final chapter up.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

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**The Beginning**

A small figure, clad in black, sat perched on a branch in Makai. Underneath the hood, one could see the nose crinkle in disgust at the smell—that is, if there were anyone around _to_ see. Thankfully there was not; the quarry could be found in peace...

A twig snapped, and the figure was off, merely a blur jumping from tree branch to tree branch, out-running the pursuer...or trying to.

A glance back—no! still there. The hunter had become the hunted.

And there! underneath! Another chaser ran. The assassin muttered a small curse.

Ahead there was a high branch, one easily defended, but to risk the jump--?

The figure jumped, landed on the branch—it snapped! Down plummeted the assassin. The pursuer in the trees stopped. No one but the best could survive that fall.

But the figure landed—however shakily—on their feet, and turned to run again.

No! The way was blocked by vines. A hand reached out...the figure tried to jerk away—a hood fell back, revealing pale skin, mouth, nose, wide eyes, long hair—a woman!

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_Koenma's Office_

"They should have been back by now." A disgruntled Koenma paced back and forth on his desk, mashing his pacifier with his teeth. He feebly kicked his tiny foot at a stack of official documents, toppling them onto the floor.

Yusuke sat on the edge of the prince's desk, tapping his foot and drumming his fingers against his crossed arms.

' "You have to be here!" Koenma says. "You're the Spirit Detective!" Buncha bull. Hiei and Kurama can take care of themselves.'

For the next several minutes, each sat in his respective silence, waiting, waiting--

"Koenma-sama! They're back! They have the assassin!"

"Well come on then, pacifier breath! Take us to him, Botan!" yelled Yusuke, eager to do anything but sit around and do nothing.

Botan led them down to the dungeons, to the deepest place, the most damp and dark. By a small corner cell stood two people: one, a short fire demon with ruby eyes and a dark glare; the other a tall man with vibrant hair and emerald eyes.

Kurama turned at the sound of the others, but Hiei remained locked in a glaring contest with the prisoner.

"Koenma-sama," started Kurama, "the assassin-for-hire is not what we expected."

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A/N

Well, how's that for a first chapter. My writing style is, admittedly, a little strange. Did anyone find it too strange? R&R. Cheers.


	2. The Assassin

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

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The Assassin

"And what did you expect, if I may be so bold to ask."

"Be quiet, insolent. It would not be wise to take that attitude with us."

"What do you expect me to do? Sit back quietly and let you do whatever you wish to? Mock me, torture me, interrogate me even? I am not so stupid as to think I will get off easy. May as well have fun enraging the good Prince Koenma and his favorite lackeys while I can."

"I am _not_ a lackey!" Hiei reached for his sword, but Kurama rested his hand on Hiei's arm to stop him.

"She attempts to goad you Hiei. Do not let her words rile you, for that is all they are...words."

"How old are you, kid? You speak wisely for the age you look."

Koenma coughed impatiently. "I don't mean to interrupt the friendly banter, here, but we really do need to have a chat, you and I, assassin."

"Really? 'Cause I thought that I was here for some tea and crumpets...oh, wait. You're Japanese. You do sushi."

"Hey! Sushi is good! And what are you? British?"

"American, actually."

"Hn. So that's where you get your rudeness."

"Hiei, right? Well, looks like rudeness runs in every culture."

"AHEM!"

"Right, tea and crumpets. What do you want to know?"

"You're going to tell me what I want to know?"

"Look how flustered he is! No, but I may as well know what you want me to tell you anyway. Couldn't hurt to inform my employer that he's being sought after."

"No, it was just you we wanted to get, onna. We don't give a damn about your employer."

"Rather! I'm flattered."

"Right, right." Yusuke waved his hand in annoyance. "It's not like you could get to your employer anyway. You are not getting out of this palace. No one can, high level security and all that."

The assassin let out peals of laughter, causing some in the group to look at each other, wondering if she were crazy, others in annoyance at her out-right defiance.

"Sure, Detective. That's not what the rumors say."

By this time, Koenma had become thoroughly annoyed at all the distractions from his questioning. Red faced, he shouted, "Everybody out! Except you Kurama. You're patient enough to help with the interrogation."

"Sheesh Koenma, don't go bazeerk on us."

"Detective's right, we were only having a little fun."

"OUT!"

"Hn, gone." In a streak of black, Hiei left the dungeons, leaving Yusuke and Botan walking back to Koenma's office, and the Reikai prince and Kurama with the assassin.

"Are you sure this girl is right in the head, Botan?"

"Yes, Yusuke. Don't let her act fool you. She's a lot like you, actually. She disguises her intelligence with bravado and jokes. Except she actually has intelligence to hide." Botan giggled.

"Oh, I get it...hey!"

"Get a grip, Yusuke. My, I was only poking fun..."

When their voices grew distant, Koenma began questioning the assassin about her mission.

"Who was your target?"

"You mean who _is_ my target? Some important dude."

"Be specific: human or demon?"

"Some important demon dude, I guess."

"You guess?" Kurama asked.

"I told you I wasn't going to tell you anything. But I'll tell you this; I've run into him before. Not a pleasant person, that. He kills humans for fun, and he doesn't give a rat's ass about the rules of the Reikai. All he wants is sport and food. Humans provide both. Trust me, princeling. You want this guy dead."

"I will decided that, not you. And if I do deem it necessary to remove him, I will send the Reikai Tantei, not a low level assassin. Understood?"

"As crystal, but that doesn't mean I'll listen."

"Koenma, may I?"

"By all means, Kurama. Go ahead, I'm not getting anything out of her."

"Alright Miss...?"

"You can call me Asha. It's not my real name, so don't try to find me in your files with it. But it's better then 'assassin' or 'Hey you!'."

"Miss Asha--"

"Just Asha."

"Fine, then. Asha, why did you take this job?"

"Same reason you took yours."

Kurama raised a querying eyebrow. This girl was indeed strange. As fast as Hiei, though she definitely smelled human. Was she a human shinobi? But she said she was American, and Kurama knew of no discipline in the United States that could compare to the shinobi's gifts. What's more, she held herself so confidently, like she ruled the room. Was it a bluff? Was she acting like Yusuke would, to get herself out of a situation? Could they afford to risk she was bluffing? So many questions, and he knew he was not going to get their answers from the girl—woman—in front of him. Another question: her age. Obviously experienced, but she couldn't be more that sixteen or seventeen. What should he do?

And then it hit him. The perfect place to go would be Genkai's. Genkai would be there, and she could keep an eye on Asha. Yukina would also be there, and though little consolation when it came to security, maybe she could get some information from the assassin. And where Yukina was, Hiei would be close by, unless on a mission. It seemed the perfect plan. But how to get her there...?

Kurama ran his hand through his hair, grabbing at it to make it look like he was only a frustrated teenage boy. In truth, he was searching for a seed from the Sleeper's Plant. It would emmit a powerful toxin, not enough to kill, but enough to put Asha into a deep sleep. Long enough, even, to move her to Genkai's dojo.

Kurama threw his hand toward the bared gate of the cell, in a dissmissive gesture.

"Koenma, I do not think we will receive anymore information this day. Let's go."

"But, but..."

Kurama glanced at the Reikai prince. Heaving a heavy sigh, Koenma followed Kurama away, and around the corner. Kurama motioned to him to stay silent, and looked around the wall back to Asha's cell. She was peering curiously at something on the floor, hunched on her haunches, her hair falling into her face. And he knew that she knew.

Acting fast, Kurama sent his spirit energy traveling along the dirt cracks in the floor to the seed, urging it to grow just enough to put the she-assassin to sleep. Kurama's plan could be seen working.

A pale green mist could be seen rising into Asha's face, filling her eyes and her nostrils. She looked up at the red-head, and winked. Before she lost consciousness, she mouthed the words, "Well done."

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A/N

For all those who are 'name meaning' savvy, Asha is an Indian name meaning hope. The fact that it comes from India means nothing. The fact that it means hope means everything. You'll see what I mean later.

And by the way, I have no personal dislike or animosity toward different cultures, the use of the attitude in my character was only to "rile up" the Tantei.


	3. The Psychic and Her Charge

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N

Promise I'm not responding to a reviewer here: just wanted to say "thanks" to Zariah whose link I could not reach because it said 'invalid URL' on the page I was redirected to.

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The Psychic and Her Charge

Silence reigned.

The room was small, but comfortably so, the walls a plain wood native to the forests of Japan. No decoration adorned them. The exits consisted of the not so large window—at present closed—and the shoji screen door.

In the center of the room a young woman slept peacefully. Rather, induced into sleep by a powerful drug.

At last, her thoughts drifted hazily into her conscious mind once more. Slowly, ever so tantalizingly slowly, she was pulled from her slumber into the living world once more.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open, revealing bright, gray eyes, nearly a silver in color. In one fluid motion she got up off the futon on which she had rested and did a full three-sixty of the room.

Empty.

Completely and totally devoid of anything.

'Good,' she thought.

Next, she strode to the door, and cocked her ear against it, listening for any sounds. None. She pulled back the screen, stepped out into the hallway, and closed the door silently behind her. She began walking away from the room, but stopped.

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt like—no, she _knew _someone was watching her. She quickly looked back over her shoulder, to find absolutely nothing there. The silence and emptiness of the place was beginning to fray her nerves. Total silence was _never_ a good sign.

As she walked along the many corridors, she felt like she was being directed, pushed, in certain directions. Just to make things interesting she went in the opposite direction of where she was "wanted" to go. Soon, though, she became bored with her game and began choosing her own way out of what was clearly a maze.

'Whoever built this place,' she thought with awe, 'definitely did a good job of building it to confuse intruders.' Except she was not an intruder. She had been deliberately placed on that futon, in that room. She was sure the red-head named Kurama had been behind it. He was good—excellent, in fact; highly intelligent, he could match wits against an assassin whose _job_ it was to be intelligent. She would have to keep a close eye on him in the future.

After what seemed like ages, Asha found herself at a set of massive doors. She would not be able to open them without a sound. It would be open, out, and run. Hopefully before anyone was truly alerted to the fact that she was gone.

Asha had managed to open the doors just enough so that she could slip through when she heard footsteps—running footsteps. It had taken a moment to really register that fact that they were there, and even then, if she had not been trained as an assassin, trusting her every instinct, she would have thought she imagined them.

Out the door she went, flying down the steps into...snow?

"Damn!" Asha could not help but express her great frustration aloud. For indeed it was snow. Knee deep and powdery, the perfect instrument to hinder her and her attempts to flee from wherever she was.

By this time, a few lights had been lit inside the building, and the doors were open. Asha could see a streak of darkness coming toward her, backed by the golden light from the windows. Almost too late did she realize it was one of her pursuers from a few nights before. She turned and ran. For a few seconds she thought that the snow would hinder her speed, and that she was caught (again), but she made it to the safety of the tree line...and immediately sprinted in the opposite direction.

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Hiei was startled for a moment. Had he been the girl he would have continued into the forest. He cast his thoughts aside and picked up his chase of the assassin.

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'That forest is old,' thought Asha. So old it's primitive, and crawling with low class demons. I am _not_ going in there.'

Asha launched herself onto a beam holding up the buildings great roof. She knew she could not escape her pursuer on the ground, or hide on the roof above, for he could also reach her there. Her best bet was in the middle, where combat—and running as well—was not an option. She knew she had trapped herself, but she had bought precious time.

"Hiei," an old, waspy voice rang out. "It's useless to keep up the chase. Our shinobi isn't going anywhere."

"Hn. Genkai." The dark one came to stand behind a short woman with faded hair, that once must have been bubble gum pink.

"Genkai?" Asha called. "As in the Genkai? Winner of the Anokoku Būtsukai? Master of the Spirit Wave? You're a lot shorter than I thought you would be."

"She sounds like the idiot."

"The assassin is more intelligent."

"You flatter me, red eyes, but you're no Goliath either."

"Goliath? What is this 'goliath'?"

"Guess you didn't bother to take a Western Mythology course in high school, huh?" All Asha received was a blank look from Hiei. "Okay. My humor is wasted on the Japanese. Goliath was a giant in a myth. A kid named David killed him with a stone, with a little help from his god."

"Whatever. Now will you come down from there or I'll--"

"Genkai? Hiei? What are you doing up so late at night? I went to Asha-dono's room, but she wasn't there." (A/N: Japanese grammar and English grammar do not mix well.)

"Hey, kid."

Yukina looked up, watching as the black clad assassin shimmied her way down the beam onto the terrace.

She walked a circle around the ice maiden, noticing her eyes, her facial structure, her stature. The slightly bewildered Koorime turned with her. Then Asha did the same to Hiei, but he was far less enthusiastic about it. The assassin made sure to keep her distance. She looked up at his crimson eyes, then looked back at Yukina, then at Hiei once again.

"Well I'll be damned..."

The next moment Asha was pushed up to the self-same beam that had been her protection not minutes earlier, with a sword pressed to her throat.

"Breath a word, and I swear my katana will cleave you in two."

"Cheery sort, aren't you?"

"Hn. You're a fool."

"Let me guess at what's running through your head: 'just like the Detective,' right?"

"Hn." Hiei sheathed his sword, and flitted off into the trees.

"Fine then! You can't run from your problems forever, you know!"

"Shut up." Asha dodged a slap to the back of the head. "Get back inside the dojo."

"Moving, Genkai-sama. I'm moving."

"At least she has a shred of respect," muttered Genkai to Yukina.

But the Koorime was otherwise preoccupied. What had the assassin meant? And why had Hiei been so threatened by her inspection? So many questions, so few of which could be answered by the one who called herself Asha.

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A/N

Intriguing, no? For those who find it easy to write Hiei (or know when or when not he is being portrayed in character) could you tell me how I'm doing so far? And I realize it's rather trite to have the OC figure out the Hiei/Yukina sibling connection, but it may or may not become important. If anything it simply shows how perceptive Asha is while seeming completely oblivious.

It also serves as an instrument to demonstrate that Yukina is not completely imperceptive, and that she does notice some things that go on around her.

Cheers, R&R.


	4. The Whims of a Shinobi

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

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The Whims of a Shinobi

Asha woke again to the plain room that had become hers. The sound that had woken her had come from outside her room, behind the shoji screen. She pulled herself off of the futon to investigate.

In the corridor, the Spirit Detective was arguing loudly with the short woman named Genkai.

"C'mon Grandma! It was just a joke!"

"And a very bad prank it was too. If you intend to ambush somebody with your tricks make sure they can't hear you from miles away. As it is I want you to cook breakfast for everyone in this dojo."

"Easy. Food for three coming right up."

"Not so fast, idiot. There's me, you, Yukina, the shinobi--"

"The assassin?"

"Yes; shut up—Hiei and Kurama."

"Six!"

"Brekkers isn't going to be so easy to make, now, is it Detective."

Yusuke jumped in surprise at Asha's voice. Genkai simply turned to face her, but the assassin could see faint surprise in her eyes.

"How'd you _do_ that!"

"It's my profession. And lower your voice; whatever you may think it isn't necessary to wake up the entire country."

"Hey!"

"Enough bickering, Yusuke. Go start breakfast!"

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While the occupants of the dojo waited for Yusuke to make the morning meal, they congregated in the central living space of the dojo. Kurama reclined on one side of the sofa, while Yukina sat erect on the other. Genkai lazed on the floor in front of the sofa playing video games on the wide screen TV. Asha leaned nonchalantly against the wall by the window, and Hiei perched on the sill, keeping a close watch on the clever shinobi. All in all, Asha was quite impressed with how modernly Genkai seemed to live.

"Are you sure it's perfectly safe to eat whatever concoctions the Detective creates in that kitchen, Genkai? He didn't look like the type to know how."

"Trust me, he knows how, Asha."

"Sure, Kurama, sure. And pigs fly."

"Let's go people!" Yusuke shouted from the kitchen. "Breakfast's hot!"

When Asha entered the kitchen she noticed that it too was very modern. Top of the line stainless steel refrigerator, oven, microwave, and stove were mixed with traditional Japanese pottery. She was brought out of her revere by Yusuke.

"Do ya know how to use chopsticks?"

"Chinese take-out is common in the United States. More Americans know how to use chopsticks then Asia thinks."

"Here ya go, then."

There was a low table at the far end of the kitchen, closest to where the five hungry people had entered. Set in the middle of the table was a dish of rice balls, some rice squares covered with aji (A/N: mackerel), and a large bowl of noodles. As Asha and the others sat down to eat, she whistled.

"Where'd you learn to cook Yusuke? A street punk like yourself wouldn't go near this stuff, I thought."

What the Detective said next was incoherent.

"What did you say?"

"You learn how when your mother's a drunk and doesn't cook for you."

"Oh..." Asha seemed at a loss for words. Her actions then surprised everyone at that table, even Hiei. She reached for the rice balls and squares, and the noodles, dishing some of each into the wooden bowl in front of her. She picked up her chopsticks and expertly plucked a rice square and some noodles into her bowl. For a few seconds she chewed thoughtfully on them, and then exclaimed, "Wow! This is _great_! Seriously Yusuke, do you want to become my personal chef?"

"Are you kidding? It's one thing when Genkai forces me to do it, but cook willingly? No way." He cracked a crooked grin, one that Asha matched with her own.

As she turned back to her food, Kurama caught her eyes. He raised a delicate brow, and Asha shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, 'I have experience when it comes to cheering people up. No big deal.'

Which, in fact, was a very big deal. No conventional assassin would do such a thing. Asha had either not been living as a shinobi for her entire life, or something traumatic had happened to her to change her personality and steer her off the traditional path...or both.

"Hey!" Asha cried.

"What!" shouted Yusuke.

"Was that a pig I just saw fly by the window?"

Yusuke looked very confused as Yukina, Kurama, and Genkai chuckled at the assassin's silly remark, while Hiei only smirked.

Whatever it was, there was something strange about her, and he intended to find out.

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A/N

Okay. The beginning of this chapter was a little hard to write. I knew where I wanted to go with the chapter, but I had a difficult time coming up with how to transition from yesterday's chapter. How'd I do?

And so Yukina's and now Kurama's interest has been peaked about our lovely shinobi. Who shall be next...


	5. Act I

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N

Thanks to reviewers. Haven't updated the last few days because of computer trouble and I've been feeling a little sick.

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Act I

Tick, tick, tick. She could hear the clock on the floor by her ear. It was just like when she had lived back in Ningenkai. Back home in America, going to school like a normal person, working hard in high school to get good grades to go to a good college. Until...

Asha just wanted to lie there and remember how things used to be. She wanted to drift back into the realm of sleep where she could be anything, where anything could have happened, could still happen...

'Wait a minute,' she suddenly thought. 'Last time I checked I didn't have an alarm clock.'

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP--

"Alright already. Whoever the hell put that alarm clock right by my ear is going to get a serious telling off." she grumbled. Asha's arm reached out from under her duvet, the bare skin rippling with goosebumps as it left the safety of the warmth.

Her hand came crashing down on the snooze button. She picked up the clock. With her other arm she propped herself up, and ran a had over her long hair to push it back from her face. The LCD screen read 05:30. (A/N: For those of you who don't know, that's a military read out for 5:30 am.)

"What the...?"

"Rise and shine, sleepy head! Guess what today is!"

"The day little princeling Koenma needs to find a new ferry girl?"

"Um...well, no. Sorry about the early hour, but we need to get you ready for today!"

"Botan--" Asha groaned as the bubbly young woman walked over to the sole window and threw it wide to the cold. It was still dark out.

Asha got up. There was no use fighting, besides, she would barely be able to get back to sleep.

She wrapped the duvet around her, filled with down and a beautiful emerald green with a black swan embroidered onto a scenery of a pond. Feebly she tried to wrap herself in it's warmth once again, attempting to cover her insubstantial black tank-top and pants.

"Really, ferry girl, it's very frightening how a grim reaper is so very not grim. Then again, better you then some skeleton in a hood with a scythe."

Botan giggled. "You are a funny one."

Asha waved her hand dismissively, in the process sweeping the duvet away from her and exposing her body once again to the frigid air.

"Anyway," Botan said cheerily, "we have to get you sized and cleaned up and made up for the big events today!"

"What big events? I may know a lot of cultures pretty well, but I can't know everything about them. What is the holiday today?"

"It's Niino Izu Yuki Matsuri!"

"...um, if my Japanese here is correct, that's a snow festival, right?"

"Yep! Now move. We're waisting time. Go to the kitchen. Yukina has made breakfast for everyone."

'It seems that ever since I've gotten here, all I've been doing is following orders to move around.'

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**Kitchen**

When Asha walked into the kitchen, Yusuke, Kurama, Genkai, and Yukina were already there. Yukina was standing at the stove, cooking what definitely smelled like sausage.

"I thought today was a Japanese holiday. What's with the Irish breakfast?" Asha said as she scratched the top of her head, yet again revealing her body to the cold.

"We decided to try some American food, since you spent yesterday eating unfamiliar Japanese foods." Kurama answered politely.

"Some of the foods were more familiar than others. But I must admit it has been a long time since I've tasted true meat. Do we get eggs too?" Asha asked eagerly.

"Yes," replied Yukina.

"You're an angel."

Asha sat down at the table, and picked up her chopsticks expectantly. Yukina came and set down a plate of eggs and sausage in front of the salivating assassin.

"This is amazing," she told the ice maiden. In the hopes of making light conversation, Asha said, "So...whose idea was it to invite me to the Snow Festival?"

"That would have been Kurama."

"Straight forward as ever, Genkai." Kurama teased. "Yes, it was my idea. Better than being left alone in the dojo."

"I don't do well in big crowds. Assassin, remember. Stealth and secrecy, and all that good stuff."

"Shinobi are trained to be efficient and versed in all environments, onna. I doubt that you are not."

"Sparky! Great of you to join us. Yukina whipped up some sausage and eggs. Want some?"

Hiei's only response was to raise his brow at being called "sparky" and to walk over to the stove and lift two sausage links from the pan, speared on a knife he had pulled from inside his cloak.

"Hey Hiei," Yusuke called, "where's Kuwabara and Shizuru?"

"The baka and his sister will be here soon."

By this point, Asha had warmed up enough to discard her comfortable duvet and got up to walk to the refrigerator.

"I know it's a long shot, Genkai, but do you happen to have any orange juice?"

"Mandarin. It'll taste a little different, but it's pretty much the same thing."

"Awesome."

As Asha was pouring herself a glass, the others had declined when she asked, Botan walked through the shoji screen separating the kitchen and the living areas with a tall, carrot topped teenager with small eyes and a younger woman with long brown hair and equally brown eyes.

"About time you got here."

"Hey shrimp! You know you're faster than us! So don't go picking a fight, huh!"

"Just like you are?"

It was then that Kuwabara noticed Asha.

"Ah! Who are you?" He was shouting, obviously startled. "I didn't even sense her!" Now he was speaking to his companions at the table.

"She's a shinobi, baka. It's her life if she is found out."

"Why you..."

"So this is my task for the morning, Botan. She may take a little work, but she has a good foundation to work with."

"Excuse me, but why are we talking about me as if I was a half finished portrait?"

"Because you are," said the unnamed woman.

"Let's go!"

Botan strode across the kitchen to grab Asha's arm.

"But Botan, my juice!" She threw a glance at those still seated, as if it were a plea for assistance; then she was through the doors, still protesting as they walked away.

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"The curtain closes on act one." Kurama murmured.

"Why don't you just ask her what you want to know, Kurama."

"Because she is a shinobi, and they are taught to guard secrets with their lives."

"But she's American. She calls herself an assassin. It must be different from the shinobi."

"Perhaps, Detective, but I wouldn't bet _my _life on it." Hiei interjected.

"Hiei's right. The more we know about Asha, the more we can possibly find out about her target and her employer." Genkai said while picking the assassin's duvet off the floor, looking contemplatively at the design.

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"Okay, Asha. Let's get you ready."

"Botan, how much reign are you giving me?"

"Absolute reign, Shizuru."

'So this is Shizuru. The carrot head must have been Kuwabara.'

"Alright, this will be the room where everybody will get ready," Botan said while opening the screen.

Inside was a relatively large room with space for two people to be assisted with dressing at once. There were low stools for them to stand upon, and tables to lay pins and materials on. Hanging from the wall was one unlit, full length mirror in which to examine the finished product, and another low table beside that. Around the walls were sets of kimonos, so vibrant in color that it nearly made the poor assassin's head spin. Asha also saw a door, before she was ushered into the room by an impatient ferry girl.

Shizuru went to one of the kimono sets, and began naming and translating the different layers of the dress.

"Susoyoke—half-slip; hadajuban—undershirt; nagajuban—under-kimono; date jime—waistband; date maki—undersash; han eri—half collar; eri shin—half collar lining; chikara nuno—collar adjustment; kari himo—temporary cord; kimono belt; koshi himo—sash; obi; obi age—bustle sash; obi ita—obi stay; obi jime—obi cord; obi makura—obi pad; tabi—socks; zouri—sandals; now go put the susoyoke on." Shizuru gently handed her the garment.

Asha stared at it in her hands for a few moments. "I'm flattered, truly I am, that you would do this for me—go through the trouble—but shouldn't I be under lock and key?"

"Well, goodness no! Kurama just wanted you to have a bit of fun that's all. Get a taste of the city, since you obviously have a love of different societies. Anyway, all four of the Tantei will be there, so it's not like you'll have a chance to escape."

"I get it. A keep your enemies closer kind of routine. That's cool." Asha shrugged her shoulders and walked toward the door she had noticed earlier. True to her suspicions, it was a bathroom, as modern as the kitchen.

She removed her clothes, and wrapped the susoyoke around herself.

Like it or not, she was going to the Snow Festival.

--------------------

A/N

It took me a long time to research the kimono, and even then all I got from my searches was a list of garments. I have no idea how to put the kimono on. If anyone more versed in this can offer me help, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. R&R.


	6. Niino Yukimatsuri

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N

This one took me a couple of days to work out. Part of me wants to write this on the fly with no plan as to where it's going whatsoever, the other wants me to do subtle things like foreshadowing and hinting at the end. Don't worry, though, I have an outline, no matter how fuzzy.

And I've arrived at a compromise for the kimono situation. I'm going to skip over most of the process of putting the robe on. Saves me undue stress and my readers won't get bored...hopefully.

And thank you to those who do review. Feedback is much appreciated.

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Niino Yukimatsuri

If one were to walk in to the room five young woman occupied just then, they would find a mess of unusable silks and linens littering the floor, pins in a random assortment at the bottom of two stools, and a certain fussing shinobi.

"Hey Shizuru, watch it with those needles, eh? I don't particularly want to go to this festival, but I want to go to even less as a pincushion."

The petite brown haired girl that had joined them—to a surprised, "How many of you _are_ there!"—along with Yukina, shortly after Asha's torture session began, giggled at the shinobi's dry humor.

"Asha, you really do remind me so much of Yusuke. I wonder if you have any relation."

"I highly doubt it, darling Keiko. Besides, you can control him, granted only to an extent, but you can. You will, however, never be able to control me. I guarantee you that."

An ominous silence filled the room at Asha's unexpected words. Shizuru came to the rescue by presenting Asha with her kimono.

"Okay, Asha, close your eyes." The assassin gave her a slight glare. "Alright, then, don't close your eyes. Here it is."

The older woman crossed the room holding the over robe in front of her, while Asha admired it with awe. It was a deep emerald, akin to the gem being viewed in candle-light. Stitched into the garment was yet another pond scene, this one a thousand times more breathtaking.

"Wow," Asha could only breathe the word. She reached out a hand to delicately trace the patterns. "The Dragonfly—illusion and truth. The Falcon—freedom. The Swan, for his silence and grace."

She looked up, her silver eyes wide. "I can't take this. I can't possibly wear this. I'm an assassin. What the _hell_ am I thinking dressing up in this restricting robe thing to go to a festival that I don't even want to go to! What in the name of the Seven Hells am I _thinking_? What shit got knocked into my brain when fox-boy drugged me? The hell!"

"I'm glad you like it," Shizuru said mockingly.

"Don't you start in on me too, seamstress woman."

"Hold out your arms." Asha's eyes looked like they could have thrown daggers if at all possible. "Hold out your arms." Shizuru ordered it this time.

"What are you staring at?" Asha snapped at Yukina and Keiko, glancing over at Botan.

"You don't like it?" Keiko whispered.

"Don't worry, hun. Swearing and refusing is Asha's way of saying she really, really likes something. She's like Yusuke that way. And most other men I know..."

"Very funny, Shizuru. We're all laughing." In reality, everyone but her _was_ laughing, as Kuwabara's sister started in on the obi, smirking.

---------------------------------------

Meanwhile, outside, three young men stood waiting, two of them very impatient.

"Where are they?"

"Yeah. How long can it take to put on a couple of dresses? It's like three o'clock!" (A/N: note that it's winter and the sun will set earlier, around 4:30pm)

"Yusuke, Kuwabara, the kimono is a very complex thing. Even the most skilled woman needs assistance putting it on. And there are five of them."

"You forgot the most important thing, Kurama!" called a cheery voice from the open doors of the dojo. "Make-up!"

The three boys heard a very 'un-ladylike' snort.

Kurama smiled. "All five of you look slendid. Well, all four of you that I can see."

"And no more of me shall you see, red-head. I absolutely refuse to be gazed at with silly looks."

It was obvious she spoke about Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were staring at Keiko and Yukina, respectively. And truly they were a sight to see. Keiko was in an amber gold kimono, a phoenix rising in red stitching from the hem of the outer robe. Her obi was a simple maroon. Yukina, in contrast, wore a pretty silver obi, a traditional Japanese winter scene detailed on her skirt; her obi was tied in a difficult butterfly knot, in a teal to match her hair.

Keiko and Yukina were looking back at their young men—Yukina glancing only for moments at Kuwabara, then looking away as she blushed—who had both cleaned up very well. Yusuke was in a golden-rod colored haori, with a simple white hakama. He also opted to leave his hair free of gel. Kuwabara wore a red haori, wearing black for his hakama. They had indeed cleaned up very well.

Kurama, unlike his two friends, did not have a girlfriend among their small group. He saw both Keiko and Yukina, and thought them beautiful, but not his. He saw Shizuru, who was wearing a deep blue kimono, with a winter countryside scene, and a plain white obi. Botan was wearing pale yellow, with a vision of a river stitched in blue. Kurama could not help but think how appropriate that was for the Guide of the River Styx. She wore a more decorative obi, a shade of light blue with a band of the same pale yellow as her kimono running through her obi's center. They were indeed very pretty. But he waited for a glimpse of the shinobi. She seemed very obstinate to stay out of sight.

That plan quickly evaporated when the ferry girl took to her oar and Shizuru pushed Asha out from the shadows.

She swore, nearly tripping over her zouri (A/N: sandals).

The assassin stood awkwardly, fidgeting with her hands, as she had clearly become the center of attention. Kurama scrutinized her, as he assumed his friends were. The kitsune nearly had his breath taken away, Asha was so beautiful. He hadn't noticed before. He had been distracted by her flashy words, and a thin scar that ran from her left eyebrow, disappearing into her shirt. She was always so sure of herself, radiating confidence so powerful it seemed to eat away at the people around her. He had seen small wrinkles at the corner of, and under her eyes; at the edge of her mouth, also, tell-tale signs of the hard life she made herself live. Kurama had never had time to notice her beauty before.

Now, the scar and wrinkles were covered with powder. Her hair was piled elegantly at the back of her head, though wisps of hair escaped to frame her face. The paleness of her eyes was contrasted by the deep green of her kimono—it even matched his haori, he thought, as he raised an eyebrow at Botan, and saw her blush. Kurama saw the dragonfly, the falcon, and the swan on her kimono, and remembered Genkai looking at Asha's discarded duvet that morning at breakfast. The same color, and it had a swan. Asha's obi was silver, like her eyes, black thread creating a weaving of what seemed to be plant life. Again, Kurama looked at Botan. Matchmaking? 'Definitely Botan's game,' he thought, 'but not one I'll succumb to.'

Asha coughed uncomfortably as she descended into the yard below.

"Where's Hiei?" Yukina asked.

"He'll most likely be at the festival, just watching," Kurama replied kindly.

"Where's Genkai?" Asha wanted to know.

"Oh, the old hag doesn't like social events. She'll stay at the dojo."

"Whoa no! If Genkai's staying, I'm staying too!"

Asha lunged for the steps, but Yusuke deftly caught her.

"No fair! Foul!" she cried. "You get to wear a hakama!"

Yusuke held her tightly by her upper arms trying not to mussy the kimono, not letting her go as he, Keiko, Botan, Shizuru, and Kuwabara laughed wildly. Kurama let out a grin. Yukina, also highly amused, was just a little too polite to show it.

"Fiends!" Asha yelled. But she as well was coming under the influence of mirth.

Finally able to bring her breathing under control, she stood without Yusuke's help. She straightened her robes slightly, then said to Kurama, "Well, Wizard. Lead us to Oz."

All she received were confused looks.

"Must be an American thing," she muttered, setting their congregation into fits of laughter once again.

-----------------------------------

**Tokyo**

When they reached the city, Asha's eyes widened in surprise. The blast of colors, smells, sounds—the effervescent energy emitted by the people was something the shinobi had never felt before.

"Man, I've been in Boston and Washington D.C., Paris, Madrid, London, Beijing even, but none of them are like this." She waved a silk gloved hand at the surroundings.

"You'd think that as a shinobi you'd be just a little more subtle in your facial expressions."

"Yusuke, I'm not on the job right now. Think of this as a little vacation."

Kurama frowned. Asha had just hinted at two things: she was a good actress, and she intended to finish her job. Very useful, but he couldn't help but wonder, was she purposefully dropping hints?

"Oh! Look!" Keiko cried. "Dengaku! Let's go watch."

Yusuke got dragged along by Keiko, Yukina by Kuwabara, and Botan followed. Asha hang back by Kurama and Shizuru.

"Dengaku?" she said slowly.

"It's a version of Noh." Shizuru said as she walked away, looking over another festive booth.

Kurama took one look at Asha's blank look, and tried to explain. "Noh is a traditional form of acting in Japan. Essentially, it was the equivalent to Hollywood in the days before the Tokugawa Shogunate."

"Bet you it didn't have all the scandals Hollywood has."

Kurama chuckled. "Come, let's go watch the story."

Asha spent her day looking at all the vendors, listening with one ear to the Noh actors, the other to the translation Kurama was giving her.

After one such act, Asha asked a question that had been lingering on her mind. "All of you know English, I presume?"

"Yes. Botan knows it because she is a Reikai ferry girl, Yukina because demons and apparitions speak many tongues. The others all know the language because we learned it in school."

"Even Yusuke?"

"Yes. Though he skips many of his classes, Keiko always made sure he learned his English lessons. Her reasonings were, if I remember correctly what Yusuke told me, 'You'll learn English if it kills you! You never know if you're going to need it to talk with in business.'"

"Yusuke, in business? What a riot!"

"It was decidedly better than facing Keiko's wrath."

"The more I hear about that girl, the more I like her."

Hours later, after having seen dengaku, watching saiko-- "The traditional purifying of rice seeds, for a good harvest."--and wandering the streets looking at vendors, listening to conversations in Japanese, seeing the colors and feeling the energy, Asha noticed it had gotten dark.

"Wow. Time flies when you learn new things, eh?"

"Indeed," Kurama murmured. Though, for him, he had not learned many things new about the slippery assassin. Except for the two things she had either let slip or dropped intentionally when they arrived in the city, he knew nothing more about Asha. This was beginning to annoy him. He paused. He was actually becoming rather uncharacteristically annoyed with her. She was a mystery. She was humorous but cold, beautiful but had scars; dangerous, if she was a shinobi, but she didn't seem dangerous. He knew practically nothing about her! Okay, maybe he was a little more frustrated then annoyed, but it made little difference.

"Kurama...hey, fox-boy!" Asha snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Hm?"

"How long does the festival go on? I'm getting cold and this kimono is getting uncomfortable. More so than it already was, that is."

"Oh! The festival goes far into the night, Asha-chan!" said Botan, sneaking in on their conversation.

"I _do _happen to know what that lovely suffix means, Botan. I hardly appreciate being called 'darling Asha' you know."

"Um, well...if you want we can go back to the dojo."

"I don't want to ruin their fun," said the assassin, pointing at Keiko, Yukina, Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Don't worry, they can stay here while we take you back."

"I'm afraid you'll have to take her Botan. I promised Shiori I would be back before midnight."

Asha was sure she saw the ferry girl's smile falter a fraction.

"Oh, alright Kurama. Say good bye to the girl's for me."

"Of course."

"Come on, Asha. We have to get out of sight for me to use my oar to transport you."

They moved into an alleyway (A/N: cities in Japan are pretty safe places to be at night.) where Botan materialized her oar. The two women got on, and Botan zoomed over the rooftops back to Genkai's dojo.

-----------------------

"Did you learn anything, Kurama?"

"No, Hiei. Absolutely nothing, unless you count two things I think she wanted me to know."

"It's a start," and he disappeared.

"Asha," Kurama muttered, "What secrets are you hiding from us?"

-----------------------

"Never again," Asha exclaimed as she stumbled off of Botan's oar. "Don't you ever ask me to go with you on that bloody piece of wood again."

"Straighten up. It wasn't that bad."

"Ferry-girl, I've been on better roller coasters than that. You're a mad-woman on that oar."

Asha began to walk away.

"Two things," she said as she turned back. "One: stop trying to play matchmaker between Kurama and me. I'm an assassin. I don't love, I don't have ties. While I'm here I am your prisoner. Kurama didn't ask me to that festival because he's developed feelings for me. He is irritated by my presence. You seem to be the only one who enjoys being around me. Know this, Reaper. I don't give a damn about you or Koenma, or the Reikai Tantei and their girlfriends. If it comes down to them or me, I will choose me. That's all I look out for. The name I use, Asha, is a joke. The persona I put on, is a ruse. That isn't me. Far from, in fact. So stop playing around. I'm going to get out of here, and I'm going to finish my job, whether your boss likes it or not."

Asha's gaze was steely as she locked eyes with Botan. She knew that the assassin meant every word.

"You said there were two things?" she fought to control a squeak.

Asha laughed. "Can you help me get this blasted kimono off?"

Botan didn't know what scared her more. Asha's promise, or the way her moods changed. Only then did she realize that the Tantei were treading dangerous grounds.

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A/N

Well, Asha certainly had a mood swing there. This one was a bugger to write. Classes start next week on the 9th, so I'll try to write as much as I can by then. When school begins I'll be hard pressed for time, if it's going to be anything like last year. But I promise I won't let the story die. It may take time to update though. Just wanted to give everyone fair warning. So, how'd you like it?


	7. Hide and Go Sneak

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N

Thanks to Yuki Amida for putting me in her C2. It's nice to know people are paying attention to my work. Thanks also to my other reviewers. That's as close as I can get to giving responses without blatantly disregarding rules. You know, it'd be much easier if author's could give responses in their stories because other than that there isn't really a convenient place to do so.

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Hide and Go Sneak

"It's, like, ten and she still isn't up yet!"

"You're one to talk Kuwabara. What's your record?"

"Two p.m.!"

"There, see? She has a ways to go before she sinks to your level."

"Hey! Say that to my face Urameshi!"

"Shut up. Let's just wake Asha up so Genkai will let us go."

"Uh, which room is hers?"

"This one." He paused in front of the screen. "Hey Asha, Genkai wants you to wake up." Silence. "You awake?" Nothing. "Okay, we're coming in."

He opened the shoji screen. In the middle of the room was Asha's futon...minus Asha.

"Shit. Genkai! GENKAI! We have a problem!" He yelled as he ran towards the doors with Kuwabara in tow.

"What is it." She said annoyed.

"Asha's gone!" Kuwabara screamed.

Genkai whirled. She looked to the window, where Yusuke was just barely able to see Hiei flit out of sight.

"Some how Asha got away. Her window wasn't open." Yusuke said, trying to control his rising panic.

"You two go check the city, in case she's trying to escape that way. I'll check the dojo and the surrounding grounds. Hiei'll be in the forest by now. Koenma is not going to like this," she muttered as an after thought.

-------------------------

"Shuichi!" Shiori yelled up the stairs.

"Yes, Mother?" (A/N: Is 'mother' in Japanese okaa-san? I forget.) Kurama asked as he clambered down into the kitchen.

"Two friends of yours are at the door wondering if you want to go to the park today. It's fine if you go, I have some errands I need to run."

"Alright, Mother."

"Don't forget a jacket!" she reminded as he walked toward the door.

"I won't." Kurama plucked his winter coat of the rack by the door as he slipped on his boots.

"What are you doing here?" Kurama looked at Yusuke.

"We have a bit of a problem--"

"Asha's missing, Kurama!"

"Quiet!" Kurama snapped. After checking to make sure his mother hadn't heard, and that no one was sending strange looks their way, he asked, "She's what?" He sounded very much like the youko he was.

"As I was trying to say before the baka interrupted, Asha's gone. She wasn't in her room and her window wasn't open."

"Shimatta," Kurama swore.

"Genkai's checking the dojo, and Hiei's in the forest. We came to check the city, and decided to hook up with you."

"Good idea, Yusuke." He turned his head to look up at the falling snow. "I bet Hiei will have a difficult time looking for her footprints with this."

--------------------

Indeed, Hiei was having trouble looking for her. He stopped and looked around him. Trees that looked the same on every side, and he couldn't sense the assassin at all. "Shimatta. Damned snow." He tried peering at the ground again—nothing at all. No trace, no sign, nothing to say Asha had been there!

"We're are you, shinobi?"

As if in answer to his question, he heard a noise coming from the north, deeper into the woods. For the second time that day, he disappeared from sight.

--------------------

A gang of lower class demons were beginning to surround Asha. She was trapped and weaponless; an easy prey.

"She's not very pretty, is she, Zouka?" snickered one demon.

"No, she's not. She's not even ugly."

"Hehehe. She's very ugly." said another.

"I wonder if she tastes better than she looks."

"I dunno, Micha," growled the first. "Let's find out!"

The five demons sprang, falling upon the shinobi like hounds on a steak.

"Ouch! That was my eye!"

"Sorry, Katsu."

"Where is she!" The demons were flustered. It was as if their meal had simply disappeared.

Suddenly, one fell dead. Cautiously, the one called Micha walked over to the body of his fallen comrade.

"It looks like a shi—ungh." He too fell. There were three left. By mere chance, Zouka looked up into the trees. "There!"

Asha seemed to vanish from where she crouched on the tree...and behind him, Katsu fell dead. Zouka attempted to run. He didn't get three steps, a shiruken in his throat.

The assassin appeared again, this time on the snow covered ground. "Not a scratch," Asha whispered. She went to each of the demons, picking her shiruken out of their throats. "It seems a waste to kill such low creatures with such magnificent weapons. However..."

She threw the shiruken seventy-five degrees behind her; they embedded themselves deep into the trees bark, hair-breadths in front of Hiei's chest.

"You'll do."

"Hn."

"Oh very clever Hiei. I can smell your fear...well, anxiousness, really. A mix of surprise and awe. I'm flattered." she said sarcastically.

"You're good."

"I'm sure your better. Don't try to sneak up on me. I may not be so nice next time."

Hiei raised an eyebrow as he watched Asha flicker from his vision. His mouth twisted into the shadow of a wry smile. He had forgotten how fast she was.

--------------------------

"Anything?" Yusuke panted.

Kuwabara shook his head, not in much of a better condition that the Detective. Kurama ran up, his red hair flecked with the white of the snow, making Yusuke think how much he looked like a Youko-Shuichi hybrid.

"I've found no trace of her! It's as if she never existed!"

"Hn. Trust me, Kurama, she exists. She's back at the dojo."

"What? Hey, Hiei wait!" Yusuke called.

"Well, I suppose we are going to Genkai's."

--------------------

"Next time you want to go out and train, you tell me!"

"Whoa, Genkai. Settle down. They weren't even a match for me."

"You are supposed to stay at the dojo or on the grounds."

"I thought the forest was part of the grounds."

"Don't get impudent with me, shinobi. The immediate grounds!"

"Bugger my fun, why dontcha."

The three snow covered Tantei arrived at the dojo only to indirectly experience Genkai's wrath. Even Kurama cringed at the old woman's voice. 'And yet, Asha is not bothered at all.' He wondered why.

"Apologize to them." Genkai pointed to all four of the Reikai Tantei.

"Why? I was fine, I was on the grounds, I wasn't about to go anywhere--"

"We didn't know that," Yusuke mumbled.

Asha didn't even glance at him. She kept her icy gaze on Genkai. "If those two boys and the demons want to be all chivalrous and go looking for me, that's their problem, not mine. I owe no apology."

Kurama had expected her to raise her voice in anger, but if anything it got softer. 'She really is a deadly shinobi,' he thought. 'She really could kill us if she wanted to. Why doesn't she?'

"How did you get out without us knowing?"

"You really should think about replacing those windows, Genkai. No glass and the shutters can be closed from the outside." She said it as casually as if she were discussing remodeling the dojo.

When Asha walked out of the room, Genkai turned to Hiei. "Our black-clad friend has some interesting news for us."

All faces turned to look at him. "She's good. She can't possibly be a normal human shinobi. She has incredible speed, she can jump large distances, she killed five low class demons in less than 30 seconds. She nearly sliced me into ribbons when I tried to get near her without her knowledge. She's _very_ good."

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A/N

Sorry it's shorter than usual, but I wanted to get this out, because now comes the tricky part of the story. Next chapter may be some information on Asha's past, or perhaps the chapter after that. We've come to the middle of the story, I think. Well, maybe not ;)

As a P.S.: I've decided that I will reply to reviews on my homepage. Just go to my profile and you'll find the link there. In future dates I'll also update people on how my story is going, and to let you know that I have indeed _not_ fallen of the edge of the earth.


	8. Meetings at Midnight

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

For those of you who read the last chapter before I reposted it, I will answer reviews on my homepage; just go to my profile and click the link to my homepage.

School starts on Thursday, so we'll see how classes and Asha are going to balance out. I _promise_ I will keep the story going. There may be times when it goes on haitus, but it won't die.

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Meetings at Midnight

In the very modern kitchen, of a very ancient dojo, a black figure sat. She had dragged a stool up to the island, placed a tea kettle on the stove, and sat watching, waiting. She heaved a sigh.

Her eyes seemed to glaze over, transported to a different time and place; away from her haggard appearance—her scar, the tiny wrinkles, the paleness of her skin, her mussed hair.

"Hullo, Luna," she whispered to the rising moon, visible through the open shutters, inviting in the cold. "How are you on this lonely night?

_We all begin with good intent  
Love was raw and young  
We believed that we could change ourselves  
The past could be undone  
But we carry on our backs the burden  
Time always reveals  
The lonely light of morning  
The wound that would not heal  
It's the bitter taste of losing everything  
That I have held so dear."_

"When was the last time I heard that song? Right, Luna, how could I forget? On the radio, right before--"

Asha vaulted herself over the island and barreled headfirst into the dark figure that came through the kitchen shoji screen. Her hand covered his mouth, her thumb pressed on his jugular. Only then did her captive realize how long the assassin's nails where.

"Yusuke!" Asha hissed. "What have I said about sneaking up on me!"

"Mmmmff mmf."

"Sorry...there." Asha removed her hand from his mouth.

"I had no idea you were here."

_ "_Right."

"Were you talking to the moon?" The detective jabbed his thumb at the open window, while Asha rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Yusuke, I was." she sighed.

"Why?"

Asha sat on the island counter, and motioned Yusuke to the stool.

"Long ago, when I was very young, I was very alone. People would be all around me, and still I felt as if I was without friends. I turned to the darkness, to the stars and the night, the moon and her shadows. I believe I was actually rather a morbid child." She smiled wryly. "I talked to myself, talked to the trees and the celestial bodies. I was drawing further and further within myself. I had no friends by then. No one to turn to for help. No one to talk to. So I talked with the moon late at night. Sometimes I felt as if Luna was talking back to me, or if that was just my mind. See? I even named her."

The kettle began to whistle. Asha hopped off the counter and went about getting cups and pouring the hot water. "Tea?" Yusuke shook his head.

When Asha was situated again, with a mug of steaming tea in hand, Yusuke said, "But you're so happy...even if it is in a strange way."

"I met an angel."

Yusuke looked at her, his eyebrow raised in question.

"I will say no more than that," she whispered softly. "I may have said too much already." She sighed once more.

"Why are you a shinobi?"

"A promise."

"It doesn't seem to suit you."

"You don't know me."

"Don't I?"

"Nope."

It was Yusuke's turn to sigh, this time in frustration.

Asha had had yet another mood swing. She was cheerful again.

Asha hopped off the counter, her now empty tea cup in hand. "You should probably go get some sleep, Detective. I have a hunch Genkai has a rigorous training for you tomorrow."

"But..."

"March!"

Yusuke sighed, and reluctantly left the kitchen, back to his own quarters in Genkai's dojo.

After he left, the assassin set about cleaning the tea kettle. "I know, Luna, I don't have to clean this. But sometimes doing work like this is soothing, I don't know why. Perhaps because it is so monotonous? And I don't have to think while I do it..."

Asha placed the kettle in the cabinet, and put the stool back in the corner of the room where she had found it. She turned to leave.

She reached the screen door, but turned back just a fraction. She was sure she had just seen a shadow at the window. She smiled a sad smile, remembering once again a painful past.

"Goodnight...Hiei."

-----------------------

The fire demon stood outside the window. For some ridiculous reason he could not fathom, Asha was talking to the moon.

He looked up to gaze at it, for only a moment, but instead was transfixed by its light. A beacon of hope in the black night, he supposed. Alright! So he could understand! That doesn't mean that _he_ would ever do something so, so...ridiculous!

He was pulled from his thoughts by a small voice, humming. No, singing...he dared a look into the room. _Asha_ was _singing_. Something about hope, the past? The more he knew about her, the less he knew _her_. 'She's not a normal shinobi...who was she?' For he began to percieve that the secret to knowing the woman today, was to know the girl she had been.

Asha moved, lightning fast. Hiei placed his hand on the hilt of his katana. He was prepared.

"Yusuke!" he heard Asha whisper. His grip on his sword relaxed; there was no danger from Yusuke.

Hiei sat outside the window, in the now wet grass, only listening to Asha's words. It seems like he had gotten his wish, or else Yusuke had cognitive abilities. The shinobi was speaking about her past.

"I had no friends by then. No one to turn to for help. No one to talk to. So I talked with the moon late at night."

So her habit was a long standing one. One that even her training as a shinobi could not erase. 'That could be important.' Hiei filed it away into his mind for later recall.

Now Asha was telling Yusuke to go to bed. The way she said it was almost motherly, but not quite. Perhaps she said it as an older sister would? Like Shizuru and Kuwabara? No, not as much cynicism. He could not describe her. 'A unique way of caring, but caring, nonetheless. She was not always a shinobi.'

He watched her as she cleaned, and listened as she spoke to the moon, "Luna," one last time. Then she turned and walked toward the kitchen exit. Hiei moved to watch her. She stopped, and he froze. He watched as a small smile lit her face, but he saw her eyes looked forlorn, almost without hope.

"Goodnight...Hiei." And she was gone.

Hiei blinked. How the hell did a human get so damned good!

----------------------

A/N

Yes, this is short. I have no choice. I'm getting this out before school today. Now that I'm back in school, I will not have as much time to ponder my plot-line, or update. Many apologies, but as I said, I have no choice. But as I have promised, the story will not die. It may just take time to update. You can be assured that I will update during the holidays.

And remember, you can get updates at my homepage. Go to my profile, and click on the link.

For those of you still in school and going back in the fall, good luck.


	9. Betrayal

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

Many apologies for not getting this out sooner. Now that I've gotten back into the swing of things at school, I think I can manage this story and school at the same time. And Parent's Weekend is coming up...but that's also the PSATs, so there may or may not be an update. We'll see.

-------------------------

**Betrayal **

A peaceful night at the Urameshi apartement. Atsuko was "out"--meaning she was at some party or another. Yusuke was asleep, snoring in his bed. His dreams wandered.

A vision of a father he never, nor would ever have; a set where he emerged victorious from a battle with other high school punks; a dream of Keiko and himself when they were younger. Then came the nightmares. Feeling the pain of Genkai's Spirit Wave; watching his mentor die; watching his teammates fight the terrors that were Team Toguro; his fight with the younger brother. A black shape slipped in through the window, silently, treading softer than a cat upon the wooden floors.

Asha watched as Yusuke tossed on his futon. Her silver eyes glinted in the pale light of the full moon. She looked weary...older than one would suppose she really was. For a moment, she saw Yusuke as a little boy; a childhood wasted in the streets fighting. Then it was gone, and he needed to be awakened.

One month after their midnight conversation, Asha had an idea as how to go about finishing her target. The demon was going to die, whether Koenma willed it or no. There was no law saying a human could not kill a demon.

"Yusuke," she whispered. The detective tensed. "Yusuke," the shinobi spoke louder this time.

Yusuke sat up quickly, jumping to his feet, entangling himself in his sheets as he did so. Asha laughed quietly.

"What are you doing here Asha?"

"Koenma wants us to go to Reikai."

"Now? In the middle of the night? I was having a good dream!"

"Of course you were, Yusuke." He paused, confused.

"You've been watching me!"

"Only for a total of thirty seconds, idiot. I'm not a stalker."

"That's up for debate..."

"Shut up and let's go."

"Where's Botan?"

"She isn't bringing us," the shinobi said. "I'm taking you to a portal."

--------------------

"Dude...what _is _this place?"

"It's a swamp. Can't you tell?"

"And the portal is here?"

"Here abouts, yes."

"Why? It's not very easy to get to."

"That's the entire point. Humans can't access it easily, if at all. That's why the swamp is here. To dissuade any mortal from coming this way. And any idiot who tries is bound to get lost in here long before they get anywhere near the portal."

"You seem so sure."

"It's been here for a long time. I've used it to get in and out of Ningenkai."

"So why didn't Koenma notice?"

"It was decommissioned. It was supposed to be closed—and all records say it has been—but I killed the person who was going to seal the portal. He never got the chance." She waved her hand nonchalantly. "Apparently Sensui used it for one of his missions a long time ago."

Yusuke looked a bit nervous. "You killed a guy for this portal?"

"I needed an undetectable in and out. This was it. I did what I had to. You understand."

"Uh...sure...So how come Junior is using this now?"

"Because it's here and a new one need not be open. More convenient."

"Ah."

"Okay. We're here."

In front of the Asha and Yusuke was a swirling mass of purple and pink and black. Just looking at it could make anyone sway with dizziness.

"It's an older model, but effective. Just walk through and think about Koenma's office. It'll get you there."

"Uh..."

"Just go, will you?" Asha snapped. "I don't have a lifetime, you know."

"Are you sure it's sa--aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Perfectly." Asha smirked and jumped in after him.

------------------------

"You didn't have to push me in, shinobi. And how do you manage to land so gracefully? I'd swear you were a kitsune if I didn't know any better."

"Years of practice, Yusuke-chan. Years of the bloody thing."

"Don't call me 'chan'."

"I'll call you whatever I so please."

"Does anyone mind telling me why you two are in my office at this time of the night?" interrupted a very put-out Reikai ruler, in mid-stamp.

"Oh, yes. That."

And Asha pulled a fast one on Yusuke. Before he knew what had happened, Asha had him on his knees in a head lock with her right arm, her left holding his left arm behind his back, bent upwards toward his neck. He looked at Koenma with incredulous eyes.

"Asha..." he choked.

Koenma was speechless as he stared at the dangerous assassin. Her eyes glinted fiercely. His mouth opened and closed, opened and closed. No sound would come.

"Let us get straight to the point, 'Junior'. You know what I want. I want my target dead."

"You know that can't happen, Asha. Please, let Yusuke go." Koenma's eyes flicked from Asha's steely gaze, to Yusuke's terrified one, back to Asha. He resisted the urge to glance around the room.

"Rule number one, Koenma: never plead for your life, or someone else's. Your captor will only kill who you ask them not to. Luckily for you, however, I am no average assassin. Otherwise you and your tantei would be dead, and so would my target."

"I can't let you kill him."

"Yusuke? Or the demon? Those are your choices. I want to finish my job, Koenma. And you _will _let me, or so help me I'll kill Yusuke."

The Detective blinked in surprise, his eyes wide with fear. He felt Asha's nails again. He hadn't forgotten the last time they had met. But then, under the moonlight, Asha had seemed so fragile. Now he knew that she was very, very dangerous. She was so passionate about this assignment. He had seen such passion before: in Hiei, in Kurama, in Kuwabara even, and himself. They had all had personal grudges that pushed them to the limit of their strength and beyond, for their revenge.

Suddenly, it dawned upon him.

"Koenma, let her do it."

"But, Yusuke, you don't understand--"

"She holds a grudge. This mission wasn't assigned to her. She wants revenge."

Her nails cut into the skin at the base of his ear. "Do it, Koenma!" he shouted. "She gave this duty to herself. Let her have her revenge, dammit! This person can't be that important to the scheme of things!"

"He's not, Koenma. You know this. He's a petty thief and a thug. He deserves to die! For what he did to others; for what he did to my best friend! For what he did to me!" Asha was shouting now. Her voice rose and Yusuke could almost hear the panic in it. She needed this revenge. It had been driving her mad. 'Who knows for how long,' thought Yusuke.

"But, but...your human! And he has a crime ring we'd need to take out with him. It's too big a job for you alone."

"Then bring in people who can do stealth missions. He is going to die."

----------------------------

A/N:

This isn't the greatest update, I know. But I haven't had time. I've had trouble with math, and art has been nasty too. It's the teacher, not the class or the people in it. This guy is an architect, not an artist. He's like "architecture this" and "architecture that" and it drives me _insane_.

Anyway. I have the story outlined till the end I think. At least for the next few chapters. We're a few away from the middle of the story. You may be able to expect an update on Monday...who knows how long it'll be though, and that's only if all my homework is done and my dad doesn't want to do anything...oh, and if I finish studying for my physics test...

Read and review please and make my week, which has sucked thus far...


	10. When Betrayal is Too Much Part I

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

I've figured out a better way to write chapters. Instead of sitting down to write one all at once—as I am prone to do with too many things, including physics tests—I'm going to write in increments. So we'll see how fast they get out then.

-------------------------

When Betrayal is Too Much Part I

"I'm waiting for your decision, Koenma. I am getting impatient. Not to mention a life is hanging in the balance."

"I-I-I...I'll call in Kurama and Hiei." The Reikai Prince sighed in resignation. He had thought that Asha had forgotten about her target. He should have known that when it comes to assassin's and their targets, they have a one-track mind.

"Make it fast."

"Will you let me go now, Asha? Pacifier breath is bringing in your backup."

"You're my insurance Yusuke. I'm letting you go until we are within sight of the target."

"So I'm coming with you..."

"But of course."

Silence began to take over, to surround Asha, who still had her thumb placed on Yusuke's jugular. He wanted to squirm away from her touch, but the sharpness of her nails discouraged him from doing just that.

Finally, Botan slammed the doors to Koenma's office open. For a moment Yusuke thought he was dead. How could Asha's fingers not have slipped at that noise? But then he was thankful for her stone quality in that moment, for her thumb had not cut his throat, and he was still very much alive. Whether he would be in a few hours was still unknown.

"What is this Asha?" Kurama's quiet voice was firm, cutting through the last bit of silence that had tried to creep back in to the room.

"This is a necessary measure to insure that you," she nodded toward the red-head—who was looking much more flustered due to the fact that it was two in the morning and he was dressed in loose sweats and a thick green sweater—and his dark companion—who looked much the same as he always did—, "come along with me to take care of some unfinished business."

"If it's your business, shinobi, you should go alone."

"Oh, I would, but for the fact that certain technicalities begged of me to demand of Koenma his permission, and the small but easily remedied problem that if I kill my target, another will rise to his place. Crime ring; it's typical."

"Uh, Asha. Can I get up now?"

"Yes. But I'm going to bind your hands with rope." She pulled thin twine from a pocket at her belt, previously unnoticed by the tantei. "Don't go getting any ideas, Red. This stuff is purely manufactured, not a bit of living material in if at all."

"He won't be able to fight!"

"Right now, that's the entire point."

When Asha had finished tying Yusuke's hands, she hauled him up from the ground, as he recovered his footing. As an extra measure, she placed a dagger at his back.

"Now, Prince, honor your word, and open a portal to our destination."

"Asha—isn't there something I can say that would change your mind? This is suicide!"

"If I die, the least I can do is take as many of His demons and Him with me to Hell's gates." Her eyes glinted with a strange light.

"I'd take that as a no," Yusuke said.

Koenma heaved a sigh. "Very well. Just try not to get yourself killed."

"As usual," Asha muttered.

And a bright mass of swirling green appeared in front of the four. Asha motioned Kurama and Hiei into the portal with her knife. After they had entered, she pushed Yusuke in, not letting go of his elbow.

"So it will end."

------------------------

Asha exited the portal, her hand covering her hostage's mouth.

"No I will not let you go."

Yusuke only raised an eyebrow.

Asha looked at each one of her companions in turn. "I suppose you'll be wanting an explanation for my behavior." She released Yusuke.

"Damned right, shinobi. Why the hell did you drag us all here?"

"For the record, those two came willingly."

"Hardly."

"You could have let him die, Hiei."

"But we're buddies, so he wouldn't do that...right?...Hiei?"

"Hn."

"Oh, that's reassuring."

"Hush Yusuke. I want to hear the shinobi's excuse."

"Ah, yes. My 'excuse.' Sit down. This isn't exactly the shortest story in the world:

_I was a very lonely child. In fact, I'm sure most people thought me as weird, and not a little deranged. I did very little talking. My parents tried taking me to a psychiatrist, when I was seven, but he refused to see me ever again. I think that may have something to do with the fact that I threatened his life if he so much as asked me how I felt. _

Asha chuckled.

_I was smart and intelligent, all my teachers thought so, but they told us that I lacked compassion in my life...that I needed friends. Of course I thought differently, but my parents did everything they could to get me to go to social events. It didn't help that I hated ice cream. _

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"It's set up Hiei. Shut up."

_And so my sixth school year came around. And I met an angel. I can't remember how we met, all I know is that we did. Within a very short time we became inseparable. We even got to the point where we could finish each others thoughts—even know what the other was thinking without saying a word. And then my ninth school year came. It was at the end of that year, in May, when I lost my angel to a demon. I was at her house. The windows crashed, and we heard her parents scream. I remember them still..._

Asha's eyes closed. Her mouth moved again, forming the words that were so hard for her to say. Kurama wasn't sure, but he thought he could see a tear at the corner of her eye.

_She ran downstairs. I grabbed for her, but I missed by a hair's breadth. I replayed it in my mind later: if only I had reached a little further. If only she wasn't so fast! She stormed down the stairs. I followed after, what else could I have done? Call the police, call for help, run to the neighbors...but then I couldn't think. She was in front of me, standing on that last step, and then she wasn't. I slipped on her blood, and as I fell, I saw her eyes, empty, lifeless. They looked fake, like glass...I saw his face. The face of her killer. I have not forgotten him, nor the name he yelled as he watched me fall on the steps, onto the broken glass: Toushi Koi. These are the scars I have from that night, and that glass--_

She lifted the sleeves of her high necked shirt, to show the multitude of scars about her forearms. Her pale skin was contrasted sharply by the black of the fabric, and the light of the Makai moon.

_This scar--_

She lifted her hand to touch the scar about her left eye, and ran down her collar bone.

_--is the medal I bear from my first attempt to face the murderer of my one and only friend. I escaped with my life._

Her eyes opened, and they glistened with unshed tears, but her gaze was hard.

A/N: The next few lines contain rather racy stuff, involving infants and demons and...use your imagination. Skip to the bolded dashed lines below if you don't want to read it.

"Do you understand now, Tantei? I vowed that I would destroy that trash that defiled my life. I put myself through hell for three years, to gain the skill and the knowledge that an assassin usually acquires from an entire lifetime. I traded my first born child for the ability to be fast—Hiei-esque fast."

"So your first born child will be...what, exactly?"

"I assume it was eaten horribly by a blood thirsty demon."

"You already had one!"

"Yes Yusuke. I went to a bar in the human world, got myself pregnant and then forced myself to give birth early. Then the demon I promised it to showed up and I handed it over."

"Did you even care?"

"I didn't want it. I had it so that when I did want a child, I wouldn't be forced to give one I loved up to a cruel and terrible fate. I did what I needed to do, Kurama. I know that it may be difficult to understand, but it is not so unlike you using a poor human woman to give birth to you so that you could become powerful once more."

Asha received no response.

**----Racy stuff stops here-----**

"Come on. The faster we get going, the less I need to put this off, and the faster you can go do more important things."

"Her own child?"

"I'm rather surprised that she's not a demon. I'd swear she was if she wasn't human."

"Hiei, that's the closest thing to a compliment I've ever heard you impart on a female ningen."

"Hn. Whatever Kurama."

----------------------

After a couple of hours of trekking through dense underbrush ("Why couldn't Koenma have put it closer?"), and fending off a group of demon bandits ("Hn. Lowlifes."), they arrived at a cave.

"I was really expecting a castle, here. If this guy is as pompous as you say, Asha."

"With Toushi Koi, expect the enexpected."

"Right. Story of my life."

"Mine too, what a coincidence. Now shut up."

"Aye, aye, shinobi."

Asha flashed her dagger under Yusuke's throat. "Detective, unless you want to lose your life, stay quiet when we enter that cave. No screaming, no coughing, not _one sound_ if you don't want this mission to go out for naught. Do you understand?"

Yusuke stayed quiet.

"Good. Let's go."

Asha walked forward. The wind fluttered for a moment about her, waving her loose pant legs, and sleeves, displacing her meticulously braided hair. She ignored the strands as the blew into her eyes, and melted into the shadows. Yusuke followed after, still in his pajama sweats and PT shirt. He wore only thin shoes. All he had were his fists in this fight; his eyes showed his worry.

Kurama and Hiei looked at each other. Yusuke was going blind into a situation he knew nothing about. But the shinobi had presence, and commanded authority over everyone around her. Kurama gave a slight shrug. He hoped she knew what she was doing. He started toward the entrance to the cave as well.

Hiei looked to the sky, still black and pinpointed with stars. Small specks of light, across an expanse... "This is insane..."

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A/N:

Don't forget people, if you want to see replies to your comments (because doesn't allow them in script), and updates on my story, or want to hear about other events in my non-influential as-of-yet life, go to my website. If you go to my profile, you'll see the link "homepage." Yeah, click that.


	11. When Betrayal is Too Much Part II

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

Nothing important to say, except that physics is a bitch.

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When Betrayal is Too Much Part II

"This is insane..."

Hiei rolled his eyes, sincerely hoping that the stupid, revenge crazy, ningen, onna shinobi knew what she was doing. He couldn't believe he had been coerced into doing this. Coerced, dragged...not to mention he didn't think the shinobi could bring back Kurama or the Detective alive. He couldn't believe that he was actually going to go into that cave.

Hiei took one last look behind him, and crept after Asha, Yusuke, and Kurama. He wasn't a coward, it was just a really good idea to stay _away_ from the initial fire.

He caught up with the group easily. Asha went slowly along the ground, the two other tantei following suit. Hiei opened his mouth to comment, but a scalding look from Asha as she whipped her head around was all it took to silence him. 'She sensed that? What else was she gifted in exchange for her first-born?'

The four inched along, all but Hiei crouched in the shadows. Every muscle was tensed, every nerve on fire, aware of the slightest change in the environment. Slowly they moved, not daring to go any faster than the pace Asha set. Every foot was picked up gently, and placed back down with even more care. No stone moved a hair to give warning to their approach. But then...

Yusuke's hand dislodged dust particles, which took to the air and assulted Kurama. He took an intake of breath. He knew he was doomed. The worst part was, he could _see_ the demons in the next section of the cave. He could see the game of darts they were playing, the meal they were eating. He heard their raucous laughter and their evil jibes. And he knew that if he sneezed, they could very well be as good as dead. Kurama stopped moving. Hiei halted with him, confused. Kurama futilely waved his hand in front of his nose, trying to clear the dust. It was no use... "choo!"

The demons stopped laughing—Asha sprang! Six demons fell before they knew what had happened. As soon as they saw their dead companions fall to the floor, they jumped into action. Yusuke catapulted himself from his crouched position, yelling like a madman.

"And so the game is up," muttered Kurama.

"Nice going, kitsune." Hiei drew his sword, and cleaved two demons in two with one stroke.

"It wasn't my fault," he looked at the dust on the stones. "Thanks," he drawled sarcastically, and he too joined the fray.

Demons fell left and right, and still more came. For every one, three were his replacement.

"Shimatta!" screamed Yusuke. "Koenma wasn't joking when he said that this guy had a major crime ring going!"

"Has anyone seen--" Kurama ducked to avoid a blow "--Asha?"

They heard an inhuman roar. Even the blood that ran through Hiei's veins ran cold. "I think she went to go take on the big guy," commented Yusuke. The demon's froze as they turned toward their master's sound, and the tantei took advantage of this moment to take out as many of their number as possible. Still it wasn't enough.

The tantei moved, each in their own dances, knowing that Asha had just attacked Toushi Koi, and trying to get to her in time, before she got herself killed. But it was like trying to walk through water: the faster they tried to reach the ningen shinobi, the slower they seemed to go.

---------------------------

She could see his face, ashen grey, not nearly as intimidating as it had been when she first saw him those many years ago. His eyes had lost their blood red hue, now more rusty—the dulled eyes of an old man. Asha noticed his claws; they were long, but they looked fragile, like they would break if they tried to scratch even human flesh. It appeared as if he hadn't heard the noise that was going on in the other room. Was he unable to hear, then? At this point it did not matter. If the element of surprise had been lost, at least he thought that he was safe in his own partition. 'Which means I have the upper hand here...'

She was beginning to over think this. It was time to act. She jumped. Her dagger in hand, pointed toward his skull.

Asha landed, causing Toushi Koi to emmit a deafening scream. She wrapped her legs around his chest to secure her hold. Her hand gripped his neck, pulling it forward as she aimed her knife at the back of his head. She thrust. And the knife bent.

"Shit. They always said you had a thick skull."

The assassin was bucked off of Toushi Koi's back. Attempting to stay on amidst the rocking would have broken her neck. So she fell back on Plan B.

"I hate hand to hand fighting. Especially with big guys." She tossed the unusable knife away.

Toushi Koi began to laugh, a deep, ugly, rumbling laugh. It was something pulled from the very depths of Makai. "I remember you!" The demon roared. "You're the one who tried to kill me to avenge your puny friend. That was an enjoyable kill, because it was for pure fun!" His laugh echoed threateningly through the room. If Asha had been thinking properly, she would have been terrified. As it was, she launched herself at the large demon's face.

Toushi Koi batted her away with his hand. "Like cat and mouse, eh, little human?"

"As long as you're the mouse."

"You make me laugh, human. Maybe I'll keep you for a pet."

"Hardly." And Asha began her own dance. It was one from which only one would survive.

She ran around the monolithic demon, gathering speed little by little, until she was a blur to his eyes. All he saw was a black streak, that had managed to lift itself onto the chamber's stone wall.

'He's massive. Anything that massive will move slowly and will fall harder. Get ready to crash Koi.'

Asha bent her legs, and jumped to attack Toushi Koi's back once more. She unsheathed another dagger, piercing the demon through his right lung. He roared again in pain.

"One puny human..." he began to cough up blood. He was weak, and Asha was merciless. She slashed again and again at his back. He tried to turn and fling her away, but she was too fast. She used her speed, her rage, her skill; everything she had learned in preparation for this moment came together. Again, and again she plunged her dagger into the demon's lungs, drawing it across his chest. She kicked him with all her might, cracking ribs and breaking blood vessels. She would not let him live. He would die, tonight, at her hands.

Finally, Toushi Koi fell, crashing to the ground, shaking the cave with one last roar before he died. Asha walked around her kill. The thing that she had pursued for so many years was gone. The monster that had plagued her life and her dreams had been destroyed. She walked around the demon, occasionally nudging it with her foot. Asha stopped her pacing at his head. She looked at it, comparing it to the memory of it that she had seen in her mind as she slept at night. The real head looked sickly, thin and stretched. It was strikingly obvious that Toushi Koi had been standing at Death's door.

"That wasn't nearly as satisfying as it should have been."

"Hn. Come on, onna. Help us finish the rest off."

"You watched?"

"Precaution."

"I can take care of myself."

Asha turned and ran out of the chamber to destroy the rest of Toushi Koi's demons. As soon as she entered the other partition, her ears were met with yells of the dying, the grunts of the fighting; her nose could smell the blood spilled on the stones, the sweat rolling off bodies in the mêlée.

She threw herself heedlessly into the fray. Asha was tired, yes, but there was a surge of adrenaline running through her body that didn't let her know that fact. As she twirled through the mass of demons she didn't notice the numerous cuts she was receiving. All she knew was that she was killing the lackeys of the demon she had hated most, and they were now dying faster than their comrades could replace them.

Her rhythm was perfect. Slice, thrust, pull, throw, pull. Her daggers found their mark at every turn. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yusuke as he fought for his life, his energy renewed at the sight of Asha's ferocity. She ducked as Hiei flipped over her head, decapitating the demons surrounding her. She watched Kurama for a fleeting second as she turned in her rhythm to find new targets. And then she saw Him. She ceased her dance as she gaped at the moving corpse of Toushi Koi.

She screamed incoherently, unable to move, looking on as Toushi Koi grinned evilly at her. He was _alive_? 'Impossible, impossible, impossible--' Her mind was moving one track. The demon turned, walking away from the fight. As soon as He was out of her sight, Asha stepped forward to run to him. To stop him, to kill him, to do something, she didn't know what.

That is, she was, until a voice yelled, "Arrow!" Kurama ran towards her, his hand maneuvering his whip into action. She bunched her muscles, and sprang up, somersaulting over whatever danger she had been warned of.

She landed safely, and as she did, Kurama collapsed onto the cave floor. Instantly Hiei was at his side. Yusuke didn't notice and kept fighting the remnants of the crime-ring who hadn't yet retreated.

"Take **that**!" Yusuke swung his fist, sending the lanky demon he had been fighting flying into a wall.

At last, it was only the tantei, and Asha.

Asha's eyes wandered over the dead demon's. She grabbed her daggers out of the pile of bodies, wiping them off on whatever cloth the demon's wore.

"I've never understood why demon's have red blood, like humans, when they have such black hearts." Asha surveyed the scene, this time for prizes. She chose a sword with a gold hilt, a gilded falcon on the grip. "A Chinese sword. I wonder from where they plundered this?"

"Enough spoil digging, shinobi. Look what you've done to Kurama."

"Hm. Interesting." said Asha as she looked at the arrow that had passed through Kurama's right shoulder. "Good thing it wasn't his heart, right?"

"What did you do, Asha!" Yusuke cried.

"What does it look like, Detective. Kurama's been injured by a poisoned arrow because Asha didn't have sense to turn around and attack. You would have left him lying here, wouldn't you." The latter part was directed at Asha.

"That wasn't a question, Hiei."

"Quickly, Detective. Call Koenma, ask for a direct portal to the infirmary."

Yusuke opened his compact, doing as Hiei dictated.

"Dude, Koenma, we have a situation. Kurama's hurt and we need a portal to the infirmary, now."

"I'll open one right away!" squeaked the small prince.

A few moments later, the signature swirling green appeared. Hiei hoisted Kurama onto his shoulders.

"Let's go, onna."

"Hm. I'll humor you."

Yusuke quirked an eyebrow at her words, and stepped through the portal. Hiei stood waiting.

"Do you not trust me, Hiei?"

"Not anymore."

"But you did."

"No. Before you hadn't given me a real reason to _not _trust you."

Asha sighed. "Very well," and followed after Yusuke.

Hiei glanced at the carnage around him. "One ningen shinobi had the power to persuade all of this." And he was gone, the portal closing behind him.

----------------------

Kurama lay unconscious in the starch white hospital bed. He was breathing, up and down, slowly, painstakingly. Every few breaths or so, he would suck in air harshly, making his throat protest in agony. Tendrils of his hair was matted to his face, sweat trickling down as his body fought the poison. His eyebrows furrowed, his breathing quickened. A damp cloth was placed on his forehead by a silent Botan, calming him for the moment. There Kurama lay, oblivious to the drama playing around him.

Asha was slammed up against the wall. The force of the blow was so strong, she was surprised she didn't go through. The shinobi blinked her eyes, trying to stop the spinning images in front of them. Hiei held her there as she struggled against the pain, desperately holding back the tears that now threatened to spill as she felt the stinging from the back of her head.

"You didn't even think about what your actions would do, did you onna?" Hiei's voice was soft—dangerous—and Asha knew that he would have killed her had Koenma not been standing right behind him.

She attempted to remove the angry Koorime's grip from her neck. "I'm an assassin, youkai, I save myself and no one else!" Asha's voice hissed venomously, as it croaked from her crushing windpipe.

"Wrong answer," Yusuke interjected. His voice was far from the chilling calm of Hiei's. "If one of the people you're working with is lying unconscious, you protect them. Dammit, Asha, my friend is on that bed right there and I don't know if he's going to live!"

The assassin shifted her eyes to look at the red head, since Hiei would not let her move her entire head. Her eyes glinted in the moonlight, filtering through the badly curtained window. When they rested on Kurama's form, they seemed to soften with...doubt? care?

"He will live, Detective," she said quietly.

"And how do you know?" Yusuke yelled angrily.

"He will want to reap his revenge upon me."

"Er...oh...but...he's still there! He might not live! He might die, and then--"

Asha was fed up with Yusuke's spluttering. "You know the laws of the street!" Her voice began to rise. "It's kill or be killed! Bully or be bullied! I help myself and no other! Once I would have saved Kurama, but that was a long time ago. I've changed! I witnessed my best friend and her family DIE! Killed by that brute Toushi Koi. My anger and hatred that day could not possibly have been surpassed. When that demon came to me, and offered me powers, I didn't think to refuse. Speed, strength, silence, to know everything that goes on around me, not to mention an unimaginable lifespan to boot. I was not a naïve little girl, no matter how young I may have been. All I had to do was give him my firstborn child, and do some tasks as an assassin-for-hire. Kill or be killed Yusuke. I chose kill!"

The room was silent as it rang with the echoes of Asha's passion. Koenma was stunned at the knowledge a demon gave her those powers; Yusuke was shocked by her conviction, and Hiei—let her go.

Asha dropped to the floor as the demon turned his back to her. "Hn. That is still no excuse for abandoning Kurama. He trusted you, and you betrayed his trust. Now he is lying as still as the grave, fending off a poison for which there is no known cure." Red eyes burned with hatred, anger, and a spark of fear? Hiei faced Asha once more. "If Kurama dies, I _will_ kill you."

With that, he fled out the window, as something hard and round clanked to the floor.

----------------------------

A/N

My sincere apologies for the delay. School found a way to get in the way again, what with lethargy, physics, the play...ugh. SO many lines to memorize for Shakespeare.

Hope you like it. Just in case someone forgot, replies to reviews are on my site (see my profile) due to the fact does not allow replies in the actual documents. As for when the next chapter comes out, no idea. Have a marvelous Thanksgiving, for those of you who celebrate it.


	12. As the puzzle forms

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

Ladies and gents it's good to be back. Sorry for the delay, again. Finals week came and now I'm on vacation, thank goodness. Might be able to get two chapters out, but I'm not promising anything. And as to my comment at the end of the last chapter, I can now respond to reviews with the new feature.

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As the puzzle forms...

She sat alone, reclined in a chair, one knee bent, one stretched in front of her. Her body slumped in sleep, alone by the window at Kurama's bedside. If the kitsune had been awake, he would have seen the moon, only half-waxed, streaming into the room, casting stark shadows on Asha's scarred and time worn features. He would have wondered just how old she really was, as he looked at the lines, as if etched by a chisel into her stone face. He would have seen the ironic beauty, as he gazed at the figure, dressed no longer in black, but in loose dark gray pants and a silver blue tunic, that clung to her curves...and he would have shaken his head at his thoughts, wondering why on earth he had bothered to think those things of the person who had almost killed him.

As it was, Asha sat alone, always alone, dreaming no pleasant dream in the light of her protector, but dreaming no nightmare. Only dreaming of how to get her revenge on Toushi Koi, always searching, always alone in her venture.

At the opposite end of the room, the door opened quietly. Koenma stood framed by torchlight coming from the walls behind him. He watched the pair, confused at why the shinobi woman would so diligently monitor someone who would wake, and probably want to kill her. For three weeks she had sat, never leaving Kurama's side. She ate sparingly, and slept little. This was a rare time; Koenma was priveleged to see Asha's look of peace as she slept. Always when she was awake, one could see the determination in her eyes, her pain, her battle with emotions she tried to hide behind a mask of nonchalance and jokes. Koenma shook his head at the oddity of the two, sleeping in each others company. Slowly, silently, he closed the door and walked away.

In the hall outside, lit by a golden light from the torches, Koenma passed Yusuke. They nodded to each other, Koenma going on his way. Yusuke paused, as if to ask a question, but in mid-turn thought better of it, and continued on.

Just as Koenma had, he opened the doors without a sound. And stared at the man in his bed, and the woman in her chair. His thoughts roamed.

Asha was not a stable person. Unstable in the way that her emotions made her spiral out of control at the oddest of moments. Unstable in the way that she had been going crazy from the thought of revenge for years. He didn't understand that kind of pain. Sure he understood pain in general; his mum an alcoholic, a father he'd never see, all the beatings he got on missions, not to mention the stinging slaps from Keiko, but he didn't understand _this _pain. The kind where it'll drive someone insane unless they did something about it.

He could tell that was the pain Asha was going through. She had ever slowly but surely been going insane for years. 'She probably knows it too,' he thought. To know that one was becoming crazy, and know that the only way to stop it was to kill a demon.

And what about Kurama? Waiting for his powers, then realizing that his human mother would do anything for her son...to have a passion awoken in you...to be trapped in a body that couldn't handle the power it once had, but being in debt to, and loving someone...the choice...Yusuke's thoughts were becoming incoherent. The pain, the stories behind it...Yusuke saw as he watched the two at the end of the room, bathed in a silver glow, how little he actually understood pain. 'Those two could help each other, if they don't fight it out first.'

Yusuke made to close the door, but before it was closed all the way, he saw a dark shadow slip through the window. He smiled grimly. 'And if Hiei doesn't kill her either.'

The fire demon stood, leaning against the window sill with his arms crossed, looking down at the woman that almost killed Kurama.

_"Hey Sparky!"_

She had dared call him a—what is it called?—a nickname. He had been displeased. He had thought, then, that she was either stupid, or very brave. Now, he pondered whether she was something else entirely. Life had not been pleasant for her. Was she making it as pleasant as she could? Through her jokes and foolish words, could she be fighting a battle that she knew she could not win? To find a place for herself in the world after she finished her mission—If _she finishes her mission.'_

Kurama had been frustrated with her, but she had shown herself to him the most. Granted, it wasn't much more, not that she had been big on disclosure in the first place. But it was obvious, in a strange way, that she enjoyed conversing with him. The scarce months that she had been in the tantei's presence, it had been obvious that she liked Kurama's company best.

_"Dude, Kuwabara. What is in that sandwich? It looks vile."_

_"No way, it's awesome. My own invention."_

_"That doesn't much answer the question."_

_"It's a mustard-and-mayonnaise-and-jelly sandwich."_

_Silence._

_"Ew. Hey, Kurama, mind analyzing that stuff under a microscrope? I think it might be alive."_

_"No, I assure you it isn't. The combination of chemicals from the foods have created a reaction that has killed all potential life."_

_"Kurama, we must avenge that potential life."_

_He nodded. "We must."_

_"For the bacteria!" Asha managed before she collapsed in laughter. Kurama was right with her, leaving Kuwabara to blink in surprise._

'He trusted you, I think, Shinobi. I do not know if that means he will not kill you when he wakes up.'

Suddenly, Asha lashed out from a nightmare. "Shika!" she cried, calling out in a dialect little known in Maikai anymore. It is said, that the demons in that region could grant gifts...and then it dawned on Hiei. 'Her abilities are from a civilization that died out fifty years ago.'

So, that was it. Asha has been stalking this world looking for revenge for half a century. That was the missing time for the shinobi to gain prowess. Little by little, the mystery was coming undone. 'She's been driven insane by revenge for nearly seventy years. Looking out for herself for seventy years.' And Hiei realized, that it had not been her fault that day in the cave. Habit had made her jump. She probably even forgot Kurama was standing behind her in that moment of flight. Somewhere in his heart, small and frozen and twisted though it was, Hiei forgave Asha. But he would never let her know that, of course.

Finally, he was seeing not a shinobi warrior vying for her version of justice, but a young girl, who threw her childhood away to train for a day that she knew might never come, might still never come. Hiei saw how tired she was. He saw the same cold beauty that Kurama would have seen was he not asleep. He would have reached out to trace the scar, that went from her left eye into her shirt—he could see more of it due to the low neck of her tunic—had he not known the contact would wake her.

Her scar...what a strange thing. It ran from her inner eyebrow—not delicate, but slender—slanting across her left eyelid (he wondered how she still had the use of that eye) down her neck, bent in sleep. It made as if to run across her prominent collarbone, almost reached it, but turned, and probably ran down her side. Hiei itched to know that story. He thought about using his Eye to search Asha's memories, but decided that for this night, she could have her privacy.

"Asha," he murmured. She shifted to bring her hand under her chin. Hiei smirked ruefully. Those nails had given Yusuke a lot of trouble. They glinted in the moonlight, causing the fire demon to raise a brow.

No matter how many secrets they had unraveled about Asha, there were still plenty more. 'One day, she might let us learn them all. Or she'll tell a special someone...' His gaze flitted to Kurama.

The red-head looked better. He wasn't perspiring as much, and his eyebrows weren't knit in pain anymore. Color had also started to return to Kurama's face. The fever had broken a few days ago, the worst of the poison out of his system. If he had been human, most likely he would have died. 'Thank Kami that you have Youko, kitsune.'

Even though Hiei had come to terms with Asha's actions—forgiveness was too kind a word—it remained to be seen whether Kurama would forgive the shinobi for his almost death. Perhaps the knowledge that she sat by his bedside unfailingly would soften his heart. Perhaps the knowledge that she fed him, watched him, sang lullabies to sooth him, would show him that she was only following habit when she had left him to die.

'To live so long without companions...she must have forgotten many things. Her humor clearly not one of them.'

Hiei looked one last time at each, one his friend, the other, one day might become a friend. He shook his head and climbed out the window.

Once he was gone, Asha lifted her head, and gazed around the room, eyes clouded with sleep for only a moment.

'Was someone...?' Years of experience told her to be on guard, but the was no evidence that anyone had been in the room. She turned her head towards the moon.

She spoke quietly, "Hullo Luna. Your waxing. Does that mean my mate here has a chance?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shooting star. "Ah, I see. I'll make a wish then." She closed her eyes, and wished. As she turned to Kurama once more, the sent of smoke reached her nose. Faint, and not quite there. The shinobi smiled to herself, and watched Kurama as he slept, her heart softening at the sight.

-------------------

A/N:

Well, that was certainly a change of heart. Don't worry, Hiei's thoughts are Hiei's thoughts, no one else'll know


	13. the mystery unravels

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

Many, many apologies! I am down on my knees. I had essay after essay in my history course, then swimming championships needed to be planned, and then finals week popped up out of no-where, and now I'm on vacation again.

So we left off with Hiei coming to terms with Asha's odd habits and strange ways. Kurama was still asleep, fighting off the Makai poison, and we learn a little bit more about Asha's past. Verily, the chapter starts.

---------------------------------

...the mystery unravels.

Three weeks had passed since Hiei's night visit to Kurama and Asha. Kurama still had not regained consciousness, though he was expected to any day now. Asha kept up her vigilant watch, caring for the kitsune with something akin to love. Or so Botan's romantic imagination thought.

This particular morning, Asha could be found kneeling on the floor by Kurama's infirmary cot, her arms crossed on the mattress, her chin resting in her arms. The sunlight filtered in through the window, its beams gently warming Asha's pale skin.

_She opened her eyes...her world was surrounded in complete dark, but for the figure that slowly came towards her. _

_"Kurama?" Asha's voice cracked with sleep._

_"The time has come. Why should I not kill you?"_

_Asha blinked. In truth, she had been expecting this question for over a month, yet she had no prepared answer. Realizing she was sitting on the ground, she rose to stand in Kurama's presence. _

_"Honestly, I don't really know. All I can say in my defense, is that I spent many years on my own, never worrying about another person, not ever having a partner to watch out for, or have watch my back. I suppose I fell back on old habits in that cave. I had been so focused, for so long, on taking revenge upon Toushi Koi, that...I...I wanted to be free of his terror, and I thought of that only. When you screamed to me...I heard danger and leaped. I did not think, I didn't...I didn't think of what would happen to the tantei that I had coerced into coming." Asha choked. She had not noticed she'd begun to cry. "I sound like an idiot."_

_Kurama watched her thoughtfully, then said, "Wake..."_

"...up. C'mon Asha, rise and shine!"

Asha swatted a hand at Botan. "You are far too bloody cheery in the bloody morning, you bint."

Botan only laughed. "Wake up, raise your head! Kurama's awake!"

Asha jolted up, her silver eyes immediately locking with emerald ones. In that moment, an understanding passed between the two. It was not a moment of professed love, or an oath of undying loyalty. It was not forgiveness, that Asha received from Kurama. But it was hope. Hope that someday in the future, Asha would make up for her mistake, and that one day, one day her relations with the tantei could be mended.

"Hello." Kurama's voice was soft. No hint of anger, of rage, no sign of any ill feelings toward Asha could be heard, or seen in his eyes. In fact, they looked almost kind.

Asha laughed for joy. "Haha! Ladies and gentlemen, el zorro is back!" Asha stood, and walked out of the room with a smile on her face.

Yusuke walked into the room as Asha walked out. "Botan...has Asha snapped or am I just out of the...Damn! Yeah Kurama! Awake at last. I mean, I've heard of a kitsune needing their beauty sleep, but I think you took it a little bit too far."

"It's good to see you too, Yusuke." Kurama smiled.

A shadow appeared over the window sill. "About time."

Kurama chuckled. "It's good to see you as well, Hiei."

"What are you going to do about Asha?"

"Not one to waste time, are we, hm? Yes, what are we going to do about Asha."

"Did you just speak about yourself in third person?"

"No Yusuke you dolt, it was fourth person."

"Wha?"

"Nevermind. Here Kurama, I figured a little breakfast would be in order. Don't worry, Koenma was bringing it up anyway, I didn't do anything to it." She grinned. Koenma walked in then, proving she spoke the truth.

Kurama took the tray from her hands, and lay it on his lap, covered by thin, white sheets. "Thank you," he whispered.

The room stayed silent as he ate his breakfast. At first, he tried to eat politely, and slowly, but he gave up once he realized how famished he was. He gulped down his milk, and patted the edges of his mouth with a napkin-- "Now he decides to have manners," muttered Asha.

"What are we going to do with you? You betrayed me, but...each of us can attest that it is not easy to break habits overnight. Used to fighting alone, it is understandable that you would remember only yourself in a moment of fight or flight. I say we put it up to a vote."

"Democracy?" Asha's voice was slightly higher than normal. "You're putting my life in the hands of democracy? I don't know about you, but I've seen how that system works in the United States and it has bunches of flaws..."

"Large scale issues of the process have no importance here," Kurama stated gently. "And do not forget, your other crimes must be taken into account here as well."

Asha silenced, a little shocked Kurama was being this kind in his dealing with her.

"Let's call Kuwabara."

-----------------------------

Once Kuwabara had joined the rest of the tantei, Kurama presented the options.

"The choices, are that Asha is killed,"--she cringed. Kurama flicked his eyes to her, then panned them back around the room. "Asha is killed, imprisoned without bail, restricted on parole, or given a second chance as a free woman." He looked at his companions, and seeing they were all ready said, "All those in favor of Asha's execution..." None raised their hands.

"All those in favor of imprisonment." Koenma raised his hand. The rest looked at him scathingly. "What?"

"All those for parole." Hiei, Yusuke, Botan, Kuwabara, and Kurama himself raised their hands. "That settles it. Asha will be restricted on parole, and must, after her involvement with Toushi Koi is finished, do service for the Reikai."

Koenma spluttered. "I hardly think that we should allow Asha to..."

"No." Hiei interjected. "Toushi Koi must be stopped now, while Asha is still sane."

Asha looked inquisitively at him. "So you're saying I've been going insane?"

"More or less." Kurama picked up the thread. "Your thoughts have focused for so long on revenge, that you've slowly been consumed by that thought. You think of it obsessively. It haunts your dreams, and it even makes you forget about the people you are fighting with."

"So because she's so obsessed with it, that's grounds for calling her insane?"

"Precisely, Yusuke." Kurama said.

"How long?" Botan asked.

"Yes, how long have you been going insane?"

"Is that an order, Koenma? To tell you how long I've wanted to kill Toushi Koi?"

"I can make it one."

Asha sighed. She focused on Hiei, who met her sad eyes with his firm ones. _Tell them_. She knew then that Hiei had discovered the truth. And Kurama had had six weeks to think about it, so he probably knew the truth too. 'Yusuke would get there eventually,' Asha thought. 'That's half, so I may as well.'

"What I told you before we attacked the cave, was partially the truth. Everything I told you about my friend is the truth. We were inseparable, we loved each other like sisters. And I lost her to Toushi Koi. However, the timeline I gave you was completely wrong.

"I did meet Arianna in sixth grade. And we did become close friends fast. But we knew each other for far longer that three years before she died. Six years later, we were seniors in high school. We were going to graduate three years before the roaring twenties: 1917. It was strange for girls to still be in school, but we stayed. I wanted to be a nurse, that passion brought on by the Great War. Arianna was the only person who could make me laugh, the only person I could tell anything and everything to. The only person I had ever managed to love. The day she died, we had walked back to her house, to sit and study for our final exams, in the terrible heat of a southern Californian summer. We were in her room, our books surrounding us, unable to get anything done in between our bursts of laughter. Then we heard the crash, a shotgun fired, and the screams...God, the screams. Arianna jumped from the desk chair, and I tried unfolding my legs and grabbing for her at the same time...I missed. My fingers brushed her skirts, too little, too late. I pushed off the floor, running for her, but she was already at the bottom of the stairs, kneeling by her dead parents. I slipped on them—the stairs—and was sliding down on the shards of glass from the broken windows, as Toushi Koi murdered my best friend, my sister. He yelled his name in victory. I can still hear the ringing, still feel my hatred, still taste the bile as the last thing I saw before I fainted, was Arianna's empty eyes."

Botan held her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. Kuwabara was much the same, his small black eyes enlarged, and afraid.

"What could I have done? Nothing. I was lucky to have passed out, else I would be dead too. Apparently the monster didn't stick around. A neighbor had called the police, and it was they who found me unconscious, but alive. The same could not be said for my friend or her family.

"It was all over the newspapers: Family killed, best friend turns mute. Oh how I wanted to strangle those bloody reporters. What absolute bastards. Would anyone believe me, if I told them a humongous demon had killed members of the community? I lived in the hospital for a time, until I was sent to an insanity ward for talking to myself. In actuality, an old, bent demon had appeared to me in my room, and asked me what I wanted most in the world. I would liken to him to Rumpelstiltskin, but I think Rumpelstiltskin would've been far more benign. I told him I wanted to take my revenge on Toushi Koi. The demon asked me what had happened. The rendition I gave him was...dramatic, and so they had to bring four grown men to drag me out of that room, and all the way to the insanity ward. Some odd days later, I had no way to keep track of time, the demon reappeared. He granted me the powers I would need to defeat my enemy, in exchange for my first born, and some petty assassin's work. I agreed to his terms. I broke out of hospital building when they next opened the door to bring me food. I ran, following the demon apparently only I could see. Eventually, he brought me through to Makai."

"From California? How?" Kurama asked.

"I suppose it had something to do with the number of earthquakes going on in the 1918-1923 years. I was forced to remain at the hospital for a year, making it 1918, and then it took four more years for me to learn the Makai language that R'ki'stuq spoke well enough to go with him. And then the earthquake of Kantou happened, and it was time to go. Perhaps the earthquakes made the barrier unstable enough in the entire Ring of Fire area that demons were able to travel back and forth between continents. It'd be something to look in on, Koenma, if I were you."

"Get on with it, onna."

"What, you don't like my story?"

Hiei only glared at her.

"Sheesh. Talk about a tough audience. Anyway...I spent twenty years working for R'ki'stuq and his clan. It was a learning experience, that's for sure. I was forced to push past the pain that they would deal me, then go on missions—small and unimportant ones. They forced me to survive. They trained me in their shinobi arts. Once, I was almost killed during a training session. Needless to say I worked harder then ever before. I started working on my own. Learning languages, history, martial art forms from other places in the Makai, and in Ningenkai. One night, I went to a bar, got pregnant, waited six months and then gave birth. I gave the child to R'ki'stuq, and when I saw his grin, I walked into my tent and didn't come out for supper that night.

"At last, he let me go. It was then 1948, and the demon clan I had stayed with was dwindling. It was probably a point of honor that an outsider would not see them die, and go extinct. I was left to my own devices. I spent years trying to pick up the trail, if any, that Toushi Koi had left behind. I started my search in California, and worked my way back to Japan. His tracks eventually led me to search in China and Tibet. Soon, the new millennium had crept up on me, and I still did not know where my prey was, except that he had not left Japan for ten years. So I assumed he was still within the borders...somewhere.

"I needed more money, so as an aside I had taken up assassin for hire. I had a skill, and I used it as a means to an end. It's a highly paying job, but all that money got used up by plane tickets, boat tickets, and other transportation methods that I had watched been invented. Marvelous things, them. I even got a computer at one point, and learned how to crack so that I could get into underground info sites and stuff like that. Rather, it was a lot of fun. At last, in 2004, I got a tip. In the Yakuza records, which they were fools enough to place on hard disks so that a skilled enough...very skilled cracker could get to them. And in them, was a reference to a terrible man by the name of Toushi Koi, who was a murderer and criminal. Even the Yakuza didn't know the half of it. The records said he was in Osaka. Superimpose a Makai map on that, and he was somewhere in the Rekuti region. A region I happened to know very well. I searched that place with a comb, every crevice, every cave, except one. The one I was going to, when you," Asha looked pointedly at Hiei and Kurama, "stopped me. The one in which we found Toushi Koi when I brought you along." Her fingers drummed on the hilt of the falcon sword from the cave, which she had taken to wearing.

"So it's 2006 right now..." Yusuke began to do the math. "Where you seventeen or eighteen in highschool?"

"Eighteen. There was no such thing as 'skipping a grade' back then."

"1917 minus eighteen...that's..."

Asha rolled her eyes. "Is it that hard?"

"She was born in 1899." All heads whipped around to stare at Kuwabara.

"Nice job, for a baka."

"Which means that you're 107 years old." Botan said.

"Wow...that's old. And you only look like your what, sixteen?"

"I'm sure if you look close enough, you can see the lines." She leaned over, resting her hands upon her knees, her long hair falling to surround her face.

"So you've been on a wild goose chase for forty-eight years." Koenma sighed. "That's a very long time."

"I think, also," Kurama began, "another reason your mind has been degenerating over the years, is because you are human. Despite whatever gifts you were given, your body is still human. There is only so much a human body can take."

"R'ki'stuq took that into account. My body will be fine for as long as I live."

"Physically, anyway. Your bones, your muscles, your eyesight and your speed. All that is a physical movement that, as you say, will stay in tact. However, your mind, your human brain, cannot be changed. It is that, which has been dying. Your obsessive nature concerning Toushi Koi, plus the degeneration of your mind, has factored into your insanity."

"Really? How interesting."

"The sooner we take care of your demon obsession, the sooner we can slow your insanity."

Asha turned to Hiei. "You care?"

"I don't, but he does." Nodding to Kurama, Hiei turned, and flitted out the window.

Kurama stared at Asha, a strange light in his eyes, as if he were battling with some emotion.

"I have more paperwork I need to do. Botan, come along." Koenma left, bringing his ferry girl with him.

"Hey, Kuwabara, bet I can kick your ass."

"No way! You're on, Urameshi!"

And so they left too, leaving Asha standing uncomfortably in the middle of the floor, under the relentless scrutiny of Kurama.

"Can you stop?" Asha sounded vulnerable.

"Stop what?"

"Staring at me. Stop staring...I don't like it."

"Very well." Kurama looked away. Asha looked so...small. She was, he supposed. The top of her head would barely reach the center of his chest. But her bearing. Even in vulnerability, she could most likely bluff her way out. Her stance was always cocky, her head held high. Her eyes were usually cold, even if she wore a smile. But now...now they looked...

"Uncertain?" Asha offered.

"How did you know that I...

"Was thinking about you? It was another part of the gift. Not outright telepathy, more like...a skewed version of empathy. I can sense thoughts, especially if they are about me. It's a perk, as long as I want to know what people think of me." She grinned.

"You're very--"

"Strange?"

"Not quite what I would have said--"

"But I know that you all think it. You're probably right, too. It's hardly healthy for a human to obsess over revenge like I am."

"There are those who do it."

"And look where they end up. Mental institutions. Anyway, most of them seek revenge on other humans, not demons."

Kurama raised his left brow, as if to appraise her. "Don't give me that look fox."

"What?" he asked softly.

"I don't like being looked at as if I'm..."

"Merchandise?"

"Not how I would've put it, but--"

"That's what you were thinking."

"Way to shove my habits back down my throat."

"It's not intentional, I promise."

"Uh huh..." Asha trailed off. She noticed that during there exchange, she had gotten closer to Kurama's bedside. "Could I see your sword?"

She drew it quickly, and skillfully. "Here."

Kurama held the hilt in his right hand, his left passing lightly over the blade. "I know far less about swords than Hiei, but even I know I good sword when I see one."

"Mhm."

"Wait...what's this?" Kurama's head bent to look more closely at the blade's stem. "There are characters here. Chinese characters."

Asha's head neared Kurama's. "What do they say?" Kurama looked up into her eyes, now filled with curiousity.

"You can't read them?"

"Hardly, I can just see barely see them."

"Ah. They say...can you understand chinese?"

"Uh...no."

"The characters say:

_The sun will rise, the sun will set_

_Your prey will fall, that much I'll bet._

_Hold fast your fears,_

_Hold back your tears,_

_A friend's hand is a wondrous thing,_

_For only this will justice ring._

_Bearer of this sword stand tall,_

_With me your enemy will surely fall._

"A message."

"Mierda. A magic sword."

"It would seem so, Asha."

"So if I can cut Toushi Koi to pieces with this thing, he shouldn't come back like he did last time?"

"Hypothetically."

"Yes or no, Kurama, yes or no."

"Toushi Koi should stay dead. There are, however, no guarantees."

"Hey, the magic sword has spoken." Asha closed her eyes for a moment, giving Kurama a better view of her scar. He contemplated it. Asha didn't even bother to mention it during her tale, but perhaps they'd be treated to the story of her scar soon. She breathed a sigh. "It's hard to believe, that after all these years, I'll finally be finished."

"Then you'll have community service to do for Reikai."

Asha grimaced as she opened her eyes. "Just my luck."

She turned to walk out. She spun quickly, lifting the sword out of Kurama's hands. "Hey! Detective! Tantei! Check out this awesome magic sword!"

Kurama shook his head. Sometimes, Asha was like a child, at others, she was wise beyond her...well, no, he couldn't really say that. But she was wise. He only hoped she would be more careful this time round, as she reaped her revenge on Toushi Koi.

--------------------------

A/N:

I'm not quite sure where all these words came from. I sat down this afternoon, and it all just kind of...flowed out of my fingers. And I promise, _promise_, to get another chapter out within the next two weeks. There are two or three more chapters left.


	14. A friend's hand is a wondrous thing

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N:

Okay, so remember how I said I'd have "another chapter out within the next two weeks" three months ago? Yeah, _really_ sorry about that. So since most my audience has probably disappeared by now looks out off the stage to see one or two…nope those are shadows…

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A friend's hand is a wondrous thing

"A magic sword? Let me see, onna."

Asha, reclining in a chair,tossed the sheathed sword to Hiei. "It's Chinese."

"That much I can see. You said there was writing."

"Kurama said there was writing near the hilt."

"Yes. It's an old Chinese dialect. I assume he already told you what it says."

Asha nodded.

"And you've told the others about the engraved prophecy."

"Yes. Koenma thinks it might be able to get rid of Toushi Koi. Kurama does too, but he "can make no guarantee." What do you think, Hiei?"

"I think this sword has magic, but it's old."

"Old as in ancient magic or old as in magic that's wearing away."

"The magic is worn. That may prove to your advantage, though."

"I think I see. It it's worn, it's hard to sense. The demon doesn't sense the magic, I could get close enough to him to do some damage…if this sword could only weaken Him, would a normal sword be able to finish him off?"

"Perhaps."

"Then to kill Toushi Koi, we'd need to have a double attack. Right after the first, the second would need to come. It's a job for two people."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Hiei, you say the magic on this sword is losing its effect. That means there is still magic, but it's weaker than it once was. It could be enough to get under Toushi Koi's defenses, enough so that a regular sword may be able to finish him off. Two attacks. They'd have to be within thousands of a second of each other."

"Toushi Koi looked like he was ready to die of natural cause when you killed him. How could…"

"There's a group of demons that have the power to die then come back to life. Have you ever heard of the phoenix?"

"No."

"It's a creature from Western mythology. When the phoenix dies, it combusts, burning up in flames. Then, it will rise from the ashes, reborn. I remember overhearing R'ki'stuq say once that there was another demon sect that was dying like them. Demons that died and were reborn, like the phoenix. Demons that when they were killed, could come back to life because of their innate nature. But for some reason these demons, when they died, weren't coming back. R'ki'stuq said there was only one left. He had killed all the rest for ultimate power. I think Toushi Koi is that one. He must have killed his fellows with some kind of magic in order to keep them dead."

Hiei and Asha were interrupted by Yusuke. "Well, well. I never thought I'd see you two plotting together. Want to let the rest of us in on it?"

Yusuke stepped into the room, revealing everyone else behind him.

"I'll summarize for you," Asha offered, standing. "Toushi Koi is of a race of demons that dies and then are reborn."

"Like a phoenix," Botan interrupted.

"I keep saying that." She began to pace. "Yes, like a phoenix. Toushi Koi is the only one left. They can only be killed by magic, but the magic sword is old, and its ability to kill the Demon has dwindled. Hiei and I think—well, I'm actually not sure what he thinks yet—that if the magic sword, then a normal sword were used in attacks immediately after each other, that Toushi Koi may be killed."

"That may work," Kurama said.

"Great." She stopped pacing.

"However, Asha, it's a risk to try and attempt it. Can we trust you to not make the same mistake you did last time we fought this demon?"

Asha abruptlyknelt in front of Kurama, who had chosen to occupy the chair that Asha had previously been sitting in. She looked at her hands, neatly folded on her lap. She looked into Kurama's emerald eyes with her own silver. "I swear to you, I will not let anything befall the Tantei that I can control. I swear upon the grave of Arianna, you will come out of a fight with Toushi Koi and the remainder of his cronies alive."

"Then let us begin to plan."

---------------------

One week later:

They had assembled in Koenma's office. The Tantei were each in places around the room: Yusuke leaned against Koenma's desk, Kuwabara stood by the door, Hiei perched against the window sill, and Kurama lounged against the wall right next to it. Koenma sat in his chair while Botan took a place behind him. Asha had yet to arrive.

"How long can we wait for her?" Kuwabara asked.

"We can'tnot wait forher."

At last, the doors opened, and Asha walked confidently into the room, accompanied by none other than Genkai.

"What's the old hag doing here?"

"We'll need all the help we can get, Yusuke. I asked Genkai to come along, just in case."

"But we thrashed the demons last time!"

"It isn't the lackeys I'm worried about."

Yusuke silenced.

"You've successfully pin-pointed his location?" Asha asked.

"Yes, I told you that already," Koenma said.

"Just wanted to be sure. Yusuke and Hiei will go through first, then Genkai and Kuwabara, then Kurama and me." She looked each of them, then nodded.

Koenma opened the portal. After the first two duos went through. Asha placed a hand on Kurama's arm before he could follow. He glanced down at her. She was staring at the portal.

"I realize that this isn't really a huge thing for you, the Tantei," she whispered. "But you know, despite the fact that this is what I've been searching for—revenge—for the past century…it means a lot that you're bothering to help."

"Your nervous."

"That's putting it lightly."

"I'll watch your back, if you watch mine."

Asha turned to face him. She smiled. "I'd like that."

They went through the portal together, coming out the other side. The others were impatient.

"What were you doing, Kurama? Kissing the girl?"

"Something like that Kuwabara." Asha's voice dripped sarcasm.

"Remember, we don't know how many demon recruits Toushi Koi has come up with," Yusuke warned.

"I.e. keep a sharp eye and your wits about you. Do what each of you can, but don't try to be everywhere. Stay in the pairs in which you came through the portal, except,"Asha motioned for Hiei and Kurama to trade places. "This is an open camp, not a cave. There'll be places for the demons to run and hide and get reinforcements from. We'll do a three tiered attack. Hiei and I will go first, engaging Toushi Koi, using the element of surprise. ThenGenkai and Kuwabara, and Yusuke and Kurama,come in with brute force. Understood?"

There was a chorus of confirmation.

"Move out." Each pair made their way low to the ground, stepping quietly.

Hiei and Asha came upon the camp without incident. She whispered in her companion's ear and pointed. "There." He nodded, showing Asha he had made eye contact with their target.

"Hiei, before we do this, thanks for helping."

"Helping? I expect I'll be doing all the work." He sped away to set his position.

Asha shook her head. 'A friend is a marvelous thing,' she thought.

She stood, and flipped over poorly constructed tents, roaring as she plummeted to attack her demon.

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A/N:

So very, very sorry for not updating in forever, but now that I'm on holiday, I really will be able to keep my promise of an update in less than a month. (For anyone who cares, my physics grade _rocked_ this term.)


	15. For Only This Will Justice Ring

Disclaimer: YYH is the property of Yoshihiro Togashi. If I were him I would be creating more manga, not writing fanfiction.

A/N: Fast update, no? Okay, maybe not quite so. Please enjoy.

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For only this will justice ring

Asha plummeted to towards the head of the demon that had haunted her for more than a lifetime.

Hate is a strong word, and should rarely be used, of course, but Asha _hated_ Toushi Koi with such a firey passion, that as she attacked him, her eyes seemed to change from cold silver, to burning sapphire. Her magic sword glinted dangerously in the light of the setting Makai sun.

She kicked out with her feet and Toushi Koi ducked his head, anticipating that she would go over him. Instead, the shinobi twisted in the air, bringing her sword to slice into the demon's back. She spun around him, swinging her sword into his chest, piercing his hideous red skin, no longer sickly and ashen.

Toushi Koi gripped her neck and flung her away. Asha corrected herself in mid-air, landing cat-like on the ground.

She had enough time to think, 'The swan for his grace,' then launched her attack again.

The shinobi aimed her sword for her opponent's chest, but as he reached to block the attack, she changed trajectory and sliced Toushi Koi under his arm. He was far frompleased. He lunged for her, but she leapt out of his way, somersaulting backwards to crouch momentarily near Hiei.

"Okay, Sparky. Where I've inflicted and am going to inflict wounds, you go in again with your sword and do as much damage as possible. Make sure you pierce something vital, like his heart. I don't have the courage to break it myself."

He glanced at her incredulously. "Even now you find time to joke?"

"Yusuke is a bad influence."

Toushi Koi swung a blow at their heads. They jumped back.

"Concentrate, onna!" Hiei shouted.

"I don't need to be told twice," she muttered.

Asha—her sights focused once more on her enemy—began to circle the massive demon.

Toushi Koi grinned cruelly at the assassin. "I should have killed you all those years ago. I don't know how you managed to live so long, ningen," he spat, "but I know that you will not live past this meeting."

She said nothing. Hiei waited, knowing the situation was volatile. The others lay in wait, fascinated at the scene unfolding before them.

"How shall I kill you? Perhaps I'll squeeze the life out of your frail body. Or maybe, I'll rip your heart out, and eat it while you're barely alive to watch."

The shinobi circled calmly. His jibes were an attempt to rile her, she knew that. She was cool, restrained—at least on the surface. Asha was raging inside, desperately trying to keep what little control she had, her hatred of the demon threatening to be her undoing.

"Or maybe," an evil glint came into his eyes, "I should kill you like I killed that friend of yours."

Asha tensed visibly. She stopped moving. Toushi Koi prowled closer.

"Does that upset you? The way I'll slice you open, let your blood flow freely for my minions to drink. What do you say,shinobi girl?"

"I will not be joining her before I kill you!" She screamed. She ran at Toushi Koi, her eyes blazing, her sword held high. For a moment, she could not be seen, her speed was so great, but she could be heard. Her cry was terrifying, lonely, filled with such pain and echoing eerily among the trees. The tantei knew she had been pushed beyond the brink, and they could not stop her. Their hearts were torn at such a broken sound. But suddenly, it stopped. Toushi Koi held the shinobi by the neck, her vocal chords and air paths restricted. Asha's sword was imbedded in the demon's body.

His eyes were wide.

Her mouth was open in a silent wail, tears falling freely down her face. She had lost herself.

The next thing the tantei knew, Asha had impacted with a tree. There was a resounding crack and her body fell limply to the ground. Even in the dim light, the glistening at the back of her head could be clearly seen.

The demon ripped the blade out of his chest, and threw the point towards Asha, confident she was dead. He turned away, only to be assaulted by an enraged fire youkai.

Hiei found he was only able to inflict minor damage, receiving more wounds than he gave. In his peripheral vision he could see the others fighting. Demon fighters fell left and right. Any who tried to run were impaled on Kuwabara's sword, or sliced to pieces by Kurama's whip. The tantei danced an intricate step, but none more so than Hiei. One stumble, one thrust where he should parry, could mean death.

He needed to find a way to get the magic sword. Then he would actually stand a chance of killing the monolithic demon he was fighting. The sword point was stuck in the ground by the shinobi's body. Hiei was capable of pulling it out of the ground as he ran by, but he needed a way to distract the demon first.

The clearing was huge. Hiei fought in the middle, but the shinobi's crumpled form lay at the edge. He was too far away from the body to run to the sword and back without his enemy's notice. There could be no tricks. It was an all out duel. Hiei focused once more on Toushi Koi, waiting to see how the dance would end.

-------------------

The others had seen Asha attack Toushi Koi. The others had seen her strike him with her magically enhanced weapon. The others had heard her strangled howl. It was one of the most sickening sounds Kurama had ever heard in his life: the sound of the insane. The others had seen Toushi Koi move before Asha had.

Kurama wasn't sure whether it was him, or another, or everyone who screamed when Asha's head had hit the trunk of the tree.

He had exchanged only a brief glance with Hiei across the field; in his red eyes Kurama saw Hiei was intent upon revenge for the woman they had not saved. Like Kurama had told Yusuke, Hiei was fiercely loyal, even if he didn't quite show it. Asha hadn't necessarily earned the Koorime's trust, but he had made a promise he wasn't given the chance to keep, and Hiei was angry for it.

They had come out of the bushes ambushing the demon spectators, some tantei yelling in rage, others in anguish and some in both. Kurama knew that tactically it was absolutely idiotic, but he pushed that voice of reason aside. Revenge was all that mattered now.

While Genkai and Yusuke mauled the main demon body, Kurama and Kuwabara became border patrol. They made sure no demon left the clearing alive.

------------------

Hiei was sweating. He had fought a number of demons in his time, but Toushi Koi was something else entirely. Hiei had never faced any being like him before. He was monstrous, and wounds didn't stay wounds for very long.

Hiei delivered a blow that would have killed anyone else, but with Toushi Koi he watched astonished as skin knitted with skin covering the slash as if it never existed.

"_Kuso_."

Toushi Koi laughed. Everyone in the clearing—demons and tantei—froze at the sound. "Do you think you can kill me? I cannot die."

Hiei glanced behind Toushi Koi, scanning the ground for the magic sword. His eyes alighted on the weapon, but they were drawn to what was taking place just beyond.

Kurama had taken the opportunity of the cease fire to check Asha. He rolled the dead woman over, her head limp over Kurama's left arm, her hands dragging on the ground. Kurama placed his right hand behind Asha's head, supporting it. He rocked her body back and forth, crying over her, holding her close. Hiei saw the kitsune drop his head in loss.

'So Kurama did come to love the girl,' he thought.

He barely had time to parry Toushi Koi's blow. Hiei shook his head. He had become distracted. It wouldn't do any of them good if he was dead. Her sword was out of reach, he would have to make do. The fight started again, as if Toushi Koi had given permission by attacking Hiei.

For ten minutes, or twenty, or maybe an hour—Hiei wasn't sure—he fought the massive demon, sword against brute strength and immortality. Hiei was beginning to feel decidedly outmatched. If he could just edge to the side a bit…

"Why do you fight me, demon brother? You are strong; you could be my second here." Toushi Koi followed Hiei's path with his eyes only, an unmoving statue of sinew and brawn.

Hiei scoffed. "Once I would have accepted your offer, but now I'd just be on the run from Reikai with a _boke oni_."

"I do not take to insults very well, _chibi youkai_."

"Really, I was hoping we wouldn't have anything in common."

Yusuke and Genkai looked at each other. He raised an eyebrow. She shrugged. Hiei was stalling, and neither of them knew why.

Toushi Koi laughed again. It was like having a knife pressed up against your spine. Everyone tensed, waiting for the final strike.

It never came.

At least, not from Toushi Koi.

The demon looked down. Protruding from where his heart would be was a blood coated sword. The Chinese characters along its blade glowed stronger as more blood seeped out of Toushi Koi and into their crevices. He slowly turned around, and three shiruken found their deadly marks: his forehead, his nose-bridge, and his stomach. Asha's right hand was still outstretched. She was still, but for the uneven heave of her ribcage. The ragged inhale and exhale of her breathing echoed in the field.

Toushi Koi bellowed angrily. Another shiruken found its way through the back of the demon's throat and out his neck, killing two demons behind him.

'She's standing,' Kuwabara thought.

Asha collapsed backwards into Kurama's arms.

'Or not.'

Hiei blinked, and then ran his sword through Toushi Koi for good measure. But the demon was already dead, the runes in the magic sword blindingly bright. Hiei combusted what was left of him, the flames eagerly consuming the monster.

Hiei plucked the swords from the ashes, scattered them as he did. "What should we do with this one?" He held up Asha's sword by the falcon hilt.

"We'll wait for her to regain consciousness. Asha will decide."

"What if she doesn't come back again Kurama…"

"She will!" he snapped. "Yusuke, open a portal."

"But what about these…guys…" The clearing was deserted.

"The few who survived have run off, and are no concern of ours now. They're weak and disorganized," Genkai said.

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders, and opened his compact mirror. "Hey, Botan, prepare a bed in the infirmary." He glanced up at Asha, cradled in Kurama's arms. "It's bad."

----------------------

Kurama paced nervously in Koenma's office. Asha was being tended to by the best doctors in Reikai. The best doctors in Reikai…but it gave them little solace. Fear of losing her began to creep up on more than one tantei.

"C'mon guys! Think positive!" Botan encouraged.

"I'm finding it real hard to fit positive into my vocabulary right now, Botan," Yusuke muttered.

"Oh posh. A lesser human would have died."

"A stronger human could still die," Hiei grumbled.

Kurama wished he had some whiskey, or scotch…vodka would do the job too. Any alcohol at all would be great if it shut the voices up inside his head.

"Why not try to be a little sensitive shrimp? Can't you see Kurama's worried?"

Anything to shut the voices up _outside_ his head.

"No really, baka? I thought he was trying to dig his way to the other side of the world."

Kurama decided to pace some more. He chanted the mantra, 'She will live, she must live,' over and over again, being interrupted too often by doubt.

Suddenly, the double doors swung open. A teenaged Koenma appeared, dark circles forming under his eyes.

Kurama immediately battered the Reikai Prince with questions. "Is she alive? Will she live? What's her condition now?"

Koenma brought a hand to his head. He dropped himself on the edge of his desk, transforming into his toddler form.

His voice sounded as weary as he looked. "Yes. I've no idea. Critical. My physicians have told me that a piece of her skull is floating in the serous fluid in the subdural space in her cranium."

Yusuke glanced at Kuwabara. "What?"

"A piece of her skull isn't where it's supposed to be, and it is now floating in a space in her head that isn't naturally there. Not to mention every one of her ribs is broken."

"Oh. They can fix it, right?"

"They're performing the surgery right now, Yusuke. They're trying to remove the skull bit from the fluid, and then they'll need to overlay the fractured area of her skull with more durable material. It may even be necessary to remove the fractured portion and give her a metal plate. They'll bind her chest, but there isn't a whole lot they can do for her ribcage."

"How likely is the surgery to be a success?"

The tantei watched Kurama. He had ceased his pacing, but he still seemed like a caged animal in distress.

"I don't know Kurama. I'm sorry, but all we can do is wait and see."

And wait is what they did. It was three weeks before Asha was taken off life support, able to breath on her own again. The Reikai physicians decided against the metal plate, successful in removing the wayward piece of bone from her head, and the fine, web-like lines in her skull were beginning to scab over.

It was three more weeks before the doctors stopped monitoring her day and night, allowing periodic visits after they had checked Asha's vitals and the progress of her healing.

Individuals of the group were able to spend time privately with their odd companion. They would sit with her, one by one. Some held her hand as she lay in her coma, talking to her about some mission or another they had recently wrapped up. Others sat silently by the window, glancing over every now and then, comforted by the steady rise and fall of her chest.

A month went by, then two more. The reikai doctors began to lose hope in the practicality of the shinobi ever waking up. The tantei were not so willing to give out on her yet. It was too difficult to move on with their lives outside the Reikai with the shadow of her impending death hanging over them, so they chose to believe, and to hope and to pray that their shinobi comrade, their shinobi friend would survive.

One night, Kurama sat alone by Asha's bedside. He twirled a rose through his fingers. He finally placed it among the collection of other flowers at her bedside.

"White is for silence," he whispered.

A shadow fell across the bed. Kurama did not bother to lift his head to greet Hiei.

"I saw you with her on the field."

Kurama did not move.

"I saw how you held her."

No response.

"Kurama." Hiei did not sound pleased, but still Kurama said and did nothing.

"The odds that she will die are greater than the odds that she will live. Find a way to accept that. No matter how much you pine for her, she cannot hear you in the realm of her dreams."

"Ningenkai doctors believe that if you talk to a patient in a coma, they will come back. If the patient hears the voice of a friend, or loved one, they will fight to come back." Hiei thought he might have heard Kurama's voice crack.

"What happened, that day? We all saw her fall."

"Yes, we did. But she did not die."

"How?"

"I don't know. A miracle."

"The miracle of love?" Hiei sneered.

"I don't love her…I…I can't explain it. I care for her, and feel for her, but she's so…different from me. It's like two sides of a coin, together but so far apart. It's as if I've found a half of myself I didn't know was missing, and could live without, but don't want to. I want to help her. I want to be there for her. But I don't love her. It's…strange and unexplainable."

"Will we ever know what happened?"

"Either she will tell you, or it will pass with both of us to the grave."

'Wake up, Asha. I am not the only one who wants to hear this tale of your…miracle. Nor is Kurama the only one who needs you. Perhaps you've changed us.'

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A/N: So one more chapter, then I'm done. All will be revealed.

_Kuso_ is the abbreviated form of chikuso, essentially an all purpose curse, but most commonly means 'shit.'

_Boke oni_ means dim-wit demon

_Chibi youkai_ means little demon


	16. The Last Secret

A/N:

Read the chapter before you shoot me. I am very, very sorry this is so long in coming. I've been dealing with other things. However, I did promise I would not give up on this at the very beginning.

R&R and enjoy.

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The Last Secret

Nine months had passed since Asha the shinobi had killed Toushi Koi. Nine months since Reikai physicians had removed a wayward piece of bone from inside her cranium. Nine months of waiting and hoping. But with a startling relapse of Asha's condition, she was once again on life-support, a foggy mask over her white lips; wires protruding from her temples, monitoring brain functions that barely existed.

Asha's face was a putrid color of grey, her arms limp over white sheets. Her hair, oily and damp, lay stark against the pillows. Tubes emerged from her abdomen, one delivering nutrients, one taking waste away. The assassin's body could do nothing by itself. She was all but dead.

The Reikai Tantei, and their female counterparts, had congregated once more in Koenma's office, a thing they seemed to be doing more and more often. The Reikai Prince assigned them even simple missions—of which lesser Spirit World agents were capable—in an attempt to relieve their minds of their fallen comrade. In truth, it had been Koenma's vain hope that he would be successful in distracting the Tantei.

It had become clear to Koenma that Asha was not going to recover. He pitied the poor woman, who had finally been broken at the hands of Toushi Koi. Ironic, in that neither had won nor lost; there had been no gain for either.

Koenma revealed Asha's condition to them out of his pity. He explained it was time to let go of the shinobi. Her body could no longer sustain her soul—keeping Asha mechanically alive was cheating her.

"Due to Asha's lack of recovery, and because it's been so long…" Koenma broke off, chewing his pacifier nervously. He cleared his throat. "I suggest that we take her off life support. We can do no more for her. She would…pass peacefully into the Spirit Realm."

"No! I absolutely refuse to accept that!"

"Kurama, after all this time, you have to. She isn't coming back. Her relapse simply shows us that."

"I will not give up hope, Koenma."

"You have become too human," Hiei scoffed. The fire demon glared at Kurama. "People fall in battle and wars all the time. It is no different here." He turned on his heel, walking briskly out of Koenma's office.

The kitsune watched him leave. Kurama could not help but think that maybe he was right. If he had not learned compassion from Shiori, maybe it would be different. Maybe it wouldn't hurt as much. He wouldn't need to grasp ever more tightly on a life that just kept slipping away. He sighed.

Koenma watched him. The prince knew how Kurama felt. Every other Tantei—except Hiei perhaps—was experiencing the exact same emotional turmoil. But the former demon seemed to be taking it harder than anyone. Koenma would fathom a guess Kurama's attitude, his determination to believe in her recovery, was payment for the nights Asha had spent by his bedside. He was like an older brother. He believed so fervently in Asha's will, he believed she would prevail, but he could not heal her, and he could not save her. His medicines were useless. Perhaps that is why he was feeling worst. He was a healer who could not heal; a brother who watched his sister shriveling to dust.

Botan and Keiko had tears in their eyes. Shizuru leaned casually by the door, but her vice-like grip on her cigarette gave up her false pretense. They watched Kurama, sympathizing with his own tumultuous feelings. Yukina remained silent, pondering as her eyes traced patterns along the floor.

Asha had been strange. Possibly the strangest human she had ever met. She was comical, but dark and sad, eccentric in her own way. Yet the human shinobi had cast an interesting light upon the Tantei and their friends. She had touched them in the little ways, with a laugh, or a smile, a dark scowl or an off-kilter and awkward joke that no one understood. Her presence had not dramatically altered the Tantei, but she had wrenched open a view of the human heart, its will and determination, its pains and scars. She had shown them how much a heart could endure.

The Koorime held her hands delicately in front of her. Asha could see into their hearts, without let them see into hers. In her past, she must have wanted to help others so much that it stayed an inexorable part of her personality, however oppressed it may have been. Yukina decided that she would try and—somehow—give Asha what the assassin would have given others. She turned quietly, intent on one thought: to give Asha one last chance at life.

-----------------------

Hiei stood arms crossed and defiant at the end of Asha's infirmary bed. His eyes took in a vision of helplessness, so unlike the living being, who had teased him, mocked him, and confused him. He was so tempted to rip off his bandana, to force access into her mind with his Jagan. He wanted to scream at her, demand that she choose life or death. He hated waiting for her life thread to run out. He hated the fragile _thing_ the shinobi had become. She was drowning in her own mind, and there was nothing any of them could do. She was too far gone for even the Jagan to reach. She was too far gone for Kurama to heal.

He stalked to the bedside table by the headboard. Placed delicately next to cards Keiko and Shizuru had brought lay a swatch of rose leaves, on which lay a perfect yellow bud. He could almost envision a ghostly image of Kurama arranging them for Asha. Hiei shook his head. Hardly a romantic the way the Shuichi aspect of Kurama's personality was, he did not care for such imaginings.

Why was it the worst of times brought out the best in humans? Their compassion always baffled the fire youkai.

Startled by the opening of the infirmary door, Hiei jumped. He had retracted too far into his thoughts for his own good, but he watched, once more entranced, this time by his sister. They were so different, fire and ice, harsh and meek, though as he watched her, he noticed a glimmer in her red eyes, so very much like his own. He watched them draw nearer to Asha's bed and something in them made him move aside.

Asha lay on the bed, her breath forced in and out of her body by the machines to which she was attached. Yukina's heart broke to see her there. Where once there had been so much exuberance, there was none. The shinobi was still as ice, her fire put out, the raging of her soul reduced to nothing but a dying ember.

Once the ice maiden had reached Asha's side, she tentatively reached out a hand, placing it gently on the assassin's forehead.

"What—" began Yusuke, but he was quickly hushed by Keiko. The Tantei had seen Yukina leave Koenma's office. Intrigued and baffled, they had followed her to the infirmary.

While the Tantei focused on Yukina, the Koorime focused solely on Asha. The beeping and siphoning of the machines faded, even the tense silence fell away, replaced by a serene stillness. In this calm the ice maiden reached for her healing powers. She was sure of herself; she could do this—give Asha her life back. Yukina firmly grasped her powers, drawing them up out of her core, directing them into her shoulder, then her arm, then her hand. The problem was Asha's brain, without that Asha's body could not function, so that was what needed to be fixed. It was a simple solution, but the process would be more difficult.

Yukina was prepared. Her hand began to glow faintly, then more brightly as her concentration honed upon Asha. Suddenly, she felt a presence beside her, one that had reached her through her calm.

"Don't," a voice said. In Yukina's mind, she looked up, eye's wide. There in front of her stood a young woman, dressed in the oddest clothes. She wore a big skirt, puffy sleeves, and her waist was well defined in a bodice. Her neck was hidden in a collar that covered her throat, buttons securing the dress.

Yukina could not help but stare, and when the woman looked down to see what Yukina was looking at, the Koorime blushed.

"Ah, yes. I'm sure early twentieth century clothes do look a bit odd to an ice maiden. I never much liked them myself. Too restricting, if you catch my drift." She winked.

"Asha?" Yukina breathed.

"Right you are," Asha grinned briefly, and then it slipped off her face. "Yukina, I know the Tantei want to save me, especially Kurama. But my body is gone, and my mind along with it. This," she pointed to the body she was in, "represents my soul, which is relatively undamaged. If you were to heal me, which I've no doubt you could, I would be nothing but a shell. Or maybe I'd be a lunatic; I think that would be more interesting." Asha smirked.

"You want to die?"

"There are worse things than death. If you healed me it would be a half-life. I would breathe on my own, but I would not be the same person. Once a human mind breaks, it usually stays broken. Please, don't heal me."

"Then…I won't, if that is what you wish."

"It is. But before I go, know this: my avatars are the dragonfly. I am—was an illusionary truth. The falcon—I have been freed by the falcon sword. The swan, for his silence and his grace—by my peaceful death is this avatar fulfilled. My task is done, Toushi Koi is dead, my friend and her family avenged. I am ready to die."

Asha's ghostly image began to fade away. It was dramatic, bringing tears to Yukina's eyes.

"Oh, one more thing." Asha came clearly back into view. "Man that ruined the drama, eh?" Yukina choked on her watery laughter.

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Outside Yukina's mind, the Tantei waited again, praying Yukina could heal Asha. They were shocked when she removed her hand from Asha's head. She looked up at them with sorrowful eyes. Yukina turned away from them, fumbling with the breath mask as two tiny crystals leapt from her eyes.

"This is what she asked me to do. She said she was ready to die."

As soon as the mask was removed, Asha stopped breathing. It had only been the machine that made her lungs work, without it, she was dead.

Yukina turned to Kurama. His expression was stunned. The ice maiden placed a calming hand on Kurama's elbow.

"She told me to tell you that the creatures which represent her are the dragonfly, falcon, and swan."

Kurama's emerald eyes were becoming teary.

"She also told me to tell you, that she had one last secret. She told me, 'I really am sorry I can't take this to the grave, be dramatic and all, but the Tantei should hear my last message.' Her real name is—was—Áine McLeod. Her parents were immigrants from Ireland, an island country in Europe. Her name means radiance. Her false name, Asha, was a name she earned on a trip in China, at the very border with Bhutah India. It means hope. She always liked how the two names together meant radiant hope."

The Tantei were smiling weakly, except for Hiei, who was stoic as ever.

"She told me to tell you, that if hope can never die, then she, Áine Asha, could never die."

Kurama nodded to Yukina, and sat in chair by Asha's bed. He held her hand, not yet cold, and glanced almost blindly at the rose leaves. He heard himself telling Asha, "The leaves of a rose, for hope," when he had delivered them to her the day before. He had not realized how fitting a tribute it had been.

"The English have a saying," Kurama began, speaking to no one in particular. "Hope springs eternal. Perhaps they are right."

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A/N:

Done. This is the end. Yes Asha is really dead, no she isn't going to come back. This is the end.

I will be the first to admit the story semi-collapsed in some places. Thank you to all for your comments and criticism. As long as you tell me why you don't like something, I am open to all suggestions. I intend to edit "Shinobi's Strength" with your criticisms in mind sometime in the future. No promises on when.

Again I'm so sorry for the long waits between chapters, but I hope you did like my story. --AE


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